ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act
Bill: S.5245 | Sponsor: Sen. Rubio, Marco (R-FL)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act or the ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act
This bill requires the President to impose property-blocking sanctions on TikTok, its parent company ByteDance Ltd., and larger social media companies with ties to certain foreign countries.
Specifically, the sanctions shall apply if the relevant property interests are (1) in the United States; or (2) in the possession or control of a U.S. person, if blocking the transaction is necessary to prevent the company's commercial operation in the United States.
These sanctions shall also apply to larger social media companies involved with countries or persons (entities or individuals) of concern, generally defined as any foreign government or person engaged in activities adverse to U.S. security and safety and includes specific countries such as China, Russia, and North Korea. For the purposes of this bill, a person of concern also includes private companies and individuals domiciled in a country of concern and subject to the substantial influence of the government.
Specifically, in addition to TikTok and ByteDance, the sanctions shall apply to any social media company

To protect Americans from the threat posed by certain foreign 
 adversaries using current or potential future social media companies 
  that those foreign adversaries control to surveil Americans, learn 
    sensitive data about Americans, or spread influence campaigns, 
                      propaganda, and censorship.

    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 ``Averting the National Threat of 
Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and 
Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act'' or the 
``ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act''.

SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN SOCIAL MEDIA 
              COMPANIES.

    (a) In General.--On and after the date that is 30 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall exercise all the 
powers granted to the President under the International Emergency 
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et. seq.) to the extent necessary 
to block and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests in 
property of a social media company described in subsection (b) if such 
property and interests in property--
            (1) are in the United States or come within the United 
        States; or
            (2) to the extent necessary to prevent commercial operation 
        of the social media company in the United States, are or come 
        within the possession or control of a United States person.
    (b) Social Media Company Described.--
            (1) In general.--A social media company described in this 
        subsection is a social media company that meets one or more of 
        the following conditions:
                    (A) The company is domiciled in, headquartered in, 
                has its principal place of business in, or is organized 
                under the laws of a country of concern.
                    (B) A country of concern, entity of concern, or 
                some combination thereof, directly or indirectly owns, 
                controls with the ability to decide important matters, 
                or holds with power to vote, ten percent or more of the 
                outstanding voting stock or shares of the company.
                    (C) The company employs software or algorithms 
                controlled or whose export is restricted by a country 
                of concern or entity of concern.
                    (D) The company is subject to substantial 
                influence, directly or indirectly, from a country of 
                concern or entity of concern owing to which--
                            (i) the company shares or could be 
                        compelled to share data on United States 
                        citizens with a country of concern or entity of 
                        concern; or
                            (ii) the content moderation practices of 
                        the company are subject to substantial 
                        influence from a country of concern or entity 
                        of concern.
            (2) Deemed companies.--The following companies shall be 
        deemed to be social media companies described in this 
        subsection as of the date of the enactment of this Act unless 
        and until the date on which the President certifies to Congress 
        that the company no longer meets any of the conditions 
        described in paragraph (1):
                    (A) Bytedance, Ltd.
                    (B) TikTok.
                    (C) A subsidiary of or a successor company to a 
                company listed in subparagraph (A) or (B).
                    (D) A company owned or controlled directly or 
                indirectly by a company listed in subparagraph (A) or 
                (B).
    (c) Exceptions.--
            (1) Intelligence activities.--Sanctions under this section 
        shall not apply to any activity subject to the reporting 
        requirements under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 
        (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any authorized intelligence 
        activities of the United States.
            (2) Importation of goods.--
                    (A) In general.--The authorities and requirements 
                to impose sanctions under this section shall not 
                include the authority or requirement to impose 
                sanctions on the importation of goods.
                    (B) Good defined.--In this paragraph, the term 
                ``good'' means any article, natural or manmade 
                substance, material, supply or manufactured product, 
                including inspection and test equipment, and excluding 
                technical data.
    (d) Implementation, Penalties, and Inapplicability of Certain 
Provisions.--
            (1) Implementation.--The President may exercise all 
        authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the 
        International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 
        1704) to carry out this section.
            (2) Penalties.--A person that violates, attempts to 
        violate, or causes a violation of subsection (a) or any 
        regulation, license, or order issued to carry out that 
        subsection shall be subject to the penalties set forth in 
        subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International 
        Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same 
        extent as a person that commits an unlawful act described in 
        subsection (a) of that section.
            (3) Inapplicability of certain provisions.--The 
        requirements under section 202 and the limitations under 
        section 203(b) of the International Emergency Economic Powers 
        Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 and 1702(b)) shall not apply for purposes 
        of this section.
    (e) Severability.--If any provision of this section or its 
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the 
invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this 
section that can be given effect without the invalid provision or 
application, and to this end the provisions of this section are 
severable.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Country of concern.--The term ``country of concern''--
                    (A) has the meaning given the term ``foreign 
                adversary'' in section 8(c)(2) of the Secure and 
                Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 
                1607(c)(2)); and
                    (B) includes the People's Republic of China 
                (including the Special Administrative Regions of China, 
                including Hong Kong and Macau), Russia, Iran, North 
                Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela.
            (2) Entity of concern.--The term ``entity of concern'' 
        means--
                    (A) a governmental body at any level in a country 
                of concern;
                    (B) the Armed Forces of a country of concern;
                    (C) the leading political party of a country of 
                concern;
                    (D) an individual who is a national of a country of 
                concern and is domiciled and living in a country of 
                concern, and who is subject to substantial influence, 
                directly or indirectly, from a country of concern; or
                    (E) a private business or a state-owned enterprise 
                domiciled in a country of concern or owned or 
                controlled by a private business or state-owned 
                enterprise domiciled in a country of concern.
            (3) Social media company.--The term ``social media 
        company''--
                    (A) means any entity that operates, directly or 
                indirectly, including through its parent company, 
                subsidiaries, or affiliates, a website, desktop 
                application, or 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) sells digital advertising space;
                            (iii) has more than 1,000,000 monthly 
                        active users for a majority of months during 
                        the preceding 12 months;
                            (iv) enables one or more users to generate 
                        content that can be viewed by other users of 
                        the website, desktop application, or mobile 
                        application; and
                            (v) enables users to view content generated 
                        by other users of the website, desktop 
                        application, or mobile application; and
                    (B) does not include an entity if the entity does 
                not operate a website, desktop application, or mobile 
                application except for a website, desktop application, 
                or mobile application the primary purpose of which is--
                            (i) to allow users to post product reviews, 
                        business reviews, or travel information and 
                        reviews; or
                            (ii) to provide emergency alert services.
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