China Social Media Reciprocity Act
Bill: H.R.8041 | Sponsor: Rep. Mast, Brian J. (R-FL)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
China Social Media Reciprocity Act
This bill authorizes the President to impose sanctions by requiring social media companies to block certain individuals and entities from using the company's social media services.
The bill also requires the President to impose such sanctions on certain individuals and entities, including those that a social media company knows or should have known are (1) on the Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons, (2) senior officials in China's government, or (3) agents or instrumentalities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or China's government. The President may waive such sanctions if the President certifies to Congress that the CCP and China's government have removed all prohibitions on U.S. government officials participating in social media platforms in China.

To provide authorities to prohibit the provision of services by social 
media platforms to individuals and entities on the Specially Designated 
Nationals List and certain officials and other individuals and entities 
       of the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``China Social Media Reciprocity 
Act''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORITIES TO PROHIBIT THE PROVISION OF SERVICES BY SOCIAL 
              MEDIA PLATFORMS TO INDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES ON THE 
              SPECIALLY DESIGNATED NATIONALS LIST AND CERTAIN OFFICIALS 
              AND OTHER INDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES OF THE PEOPLE'S 
              REPUBLIC OF CHINA.

    (a) Authorities Under the International Emergency Economic Powers 
Act.--
            (1) In general.--Section 203 of the International Emergency 
        Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702) is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection 
                (d); and
                    (B) by inserting after subsection (b) the 
                following:
    ``(c)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (b) and except as provided in 
paragraph (2), the authority granted to the President by this section 
does include the authority to regulate or prohibit the provision by a 
provider of a social media platform of a covered service to--
            ``(A) an individual or entity who, pursuant to the exercise 
        of authorities under part 594 of title 31, Code of Federal 
        Regulations, is on the list of specially designated nationals 
        and blocked persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets 
        Control of the Department of the Treasury, if such provider 
        knew or should have known that such individual or entity was on 
        such list and that such provider was providing such service to 
        such individual or entity;
            ``(B) an individual who is a senior official of the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China or an individual 
        or entity acting at the direction of such individual, if such 
        provider knew or should have known that such individual was 
        such a senior official or such individual or entity was acting 
        at the direction of such individual, as the case may be, and 
        that such provider was providing such service to such 
        individual or such individual or entity, as the case may be;
            ``(C) an individual who is a senior member of the CCP or an 
        individual or entity acting at the direction of such 
        individual, if such provider knew or should have known that 
        such individual was such a senior member or such individual or 
        entity was acting at the direction of such individual, as the 
        case may be, and that such provider was providing such service 
        to such individual or such individual or entity, as the case 
        may be;
            ``(D) an individual who is a spokesperson of the CCP or the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China, or an individual 
        or entity acting at the direction of such individual, if such 
        provider knew or should have known that such individual was 
        such a spokesperson or such an individual or entity was acting 
        at the direction of such individual, as the case may be, and 
        that such provider was providing such service to such 
        individual or such individual or entity, as the case may be;
            ``(E) an individual or entity who is an agent or 
        instrumentality of the CCP or the Government of the People's 
        Republic of China, if such provider knew or should have known 
        that such individual or entity was such an agent or 
        instrumentality and that such provider was providing such 
        service to such individual or entity; or
            ``(F) an individual or entity who is or owned or controlled 
        by the CCP or the Government of the People's Republic of China, 
        if such provider knew or should have known that such individual 
        or entity was owned or controlled by the CCP or the Government 
        of the People's Republic of China and that such provider was 
        providing such service to such individual or entity.
    ``(2) The authority granted to the President by this section does 
not include the authority to regulate or prohibit the provision by a 
provider of a social media platform of a covered service to an 
individual who is a senior official of a Government of the People's 
Republic of China described in paragraph (1)(B) solely for legitimate 
emergency alert purposes.
    ``(3) In this subsection--
            ``(A) the term `CCP' means the Chinese Communist Party of 
        the People's Republic of China or any successor entity;
            ``(B) the term `covered service'--
                    ``(i) means, with respect to a provider of a social 
                media platform, any service provided by the provider 
                through the platform, including a service that is 
                publicly available and free of charge (including 
                permitting an individual or entity to create or 
                maintain an account or profile); and
                    ``(ii) does not include the ability of an 
                individual or entity to--
                            ``(I) access the platform without an 
                        account or profile; or
                            ``(II) send or receive private 
                        communications on the platform;
            ``(C) the term `social media platform'--
                    ``(i) means a website or other internet medium, 
                including a mobile application, that--
                            ``(I) permits an individual or entity to 
                        create an account or profile for the purpose of 
                        generating, sharing, and viewing user-generated 
                        content through such account or profile;
                            ``(II) enables one or more users to 
                        generate content that can be viewed by other 
                        users of the medium; and
                            ``(III) enables users to view content 
                        generated by other users of the medium; and
                    ``(ii) does not include--
                            ``(I) any such website or other internet 
                        medium that serves fewer than 100,000 users who 
                        access their account or profile at least once a 
                        month;
                            ``(II) an email program, email distribution 
                        list, or multi-person text message group;
                            ``(III) a website or other internet medium 
                        that is primarily for the purpose of internet 
                        commerce;
                            ``(IV) a software application (including a 
                        mobile application) used solely to communicate 
                        with others through instant messages, audio 
                        calls, video calls, or any combination thereof; 
                        or
                            ``(V) a website or other internet medium 
                        the primary purpose of which is--
                                    ``(aa) to allow users to post 
                                product reviews, business reviews, or 
                                travel information and reviews; or
                                    ``(bb) to provide emergency alert 
                                services;
            ``(D) the term `senior official of the Government of the 
        People's Republic of China' includes--
                    ``(i) each member of the State Council, including 
                the Premier, Vice Premiers, and State Councillors;
                    ``(ii) the minister and vice ministers of the 
                Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Defense, State 
                Security, Justice, Public Security, and other 
                ministries;
                    ``(iii) the director, deputy director, or any other 
                high ranking official of the Hong Kong and Macau 
                Affairs Office, the Liaison Office of the Central 
                People's Government in the Hong Kong Special 
                Administrative Region, the Liaison Office of the 
                Central People's Government in the Macau Special 
                Administrative Region, the Office for Safeguarding 
                National Security of the Central People's Government in 
                the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the State 
                Council Research Office, the Overseas Chinese Affairs 
                Office, the Taiwan Affairs Office, the Cyberspace 
                Administration of China, the State Council Information 
                Office, the Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese Academy of 
                Social Sciences, the China Media Group, the National 
                Ethnic Affairs Commission, the National Radio and 
                Television Administration, and the National Press and 
                Publication Administration;
                    ``(iv) any other high ranking official in the 
                defense, security, or foreign affairs apparatus of the 
                government, including any ambassador and any spokesman 
                of any government agency or department; and
                    ``(v) any other official that the President 
                determines to be a `senior official' for purposes of 
                this subparagraph; and
            ``(E) the term `senior member of the CCP' includes each 
        member of the CCP Central Committee, including each member of 
        the CCP Politburo (including the Politburo Standing Committee 
        and the General Secretary), the Central Military Commission 
        (CMC), the Secretariat of the Central Committee, the Central 
        National Security Commission, Leading Small Groups and their 
        related work offices, the Central Commission for Discipline 
        Inspection, the General Office, the Organization Department, 
        the Publicity Department, the International Liaison Department, 
        the United Front Work Department, the External Propaganda 
        Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, the 
        People's Daily, the Central Party School, the Central Policy 
        Research Office, the Central Taiwan Work Office, and any other 
        central-level CCP body.''.
            (2) Effective date.--The amendments made by this subsection 
        shall take effect on the date that is 180 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Imposition of Sanctions.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the President shall, except as 
        provided in paragraph (2), prohibit the provision by a provider 
        of a social media platform of a covered service to any 
        individual or entity described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), 
        (D), (E), or (F) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of section 
        203 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (as 
        added by subsection (a) of this section).
            (2) Waiver.--The President may waive the prohibition 
        required by this subsection with respect to an individual or 
        entity if the President certifies to the appropriate 
        congressional committees that the Government of the People's 
        Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party have 
        verifiably removed prohibitions on officials of the United 
        States Government from accessing, using, or participating in 
        social media platforms in the People's Republic of China, 
        including by removing all forms of censorship that prohibit 
        persons in the People's Republic of China from accessing social 
        media platforms or viewing content generated by such United 
        States Government officials or United States persons on social 
        media platforms.
            (3) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections 
        (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency 
        Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person 
        that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or 
        causes a violation of regulations promulgated to carry out this 
        subsection or the sanctions imposed pursuant to this subsection 
        to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person that 
        commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of that 
        Act.
    (c) Regulatory Authority.--
            (1) In general.--The President shall, not later than 180 
        days after the date of the enactment of this Act, prescribe 
        regulations as necessary for the implementation of this section 
        and the amendments made by this section.
            (2) Notification to congress.--No later than 10 days before 
        the prescription of regulations under paragraph (1), the 
        President shall notify the appropriate congressional committees 
        regarding the proposed regulations and the provisions this 
        section and the amendments made by this section that the 
        regulations are implementing.
    (d) Sunset.--The President's authority to issue waivers or licenses 
with respect to sanctions required by subsection (b) or pursuant to 
sections 203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act 
(50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) with regard to prohibitions required by 
subsection (b) shall cease to apply beginning on the date that is 2 
years after the date of enactment of this Act.
    (e) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
                Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
                Representatives; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
                Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the 
                Senate.
            (2) Covered service; social media platform.--The terms 
        ``covered service'' and ``social media platform'' have the 
        meanings given the terms in subsection (c) of section 203 of 
        the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 
        1702), as added by subsection (a) of this section.
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