Democracy Dies in Darkness Act
Bill: S.319 | Sponsor: Sen. Wicker, Roger F. (R-MS)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Democracy Dies in Darkness Act
This bill requires foreign agents to prominently disclose their foreign principal as the source of any paid inserts placed by them in certain U.S.-based publications (e.g., magazines, journals, and news publications). The bill also establishes requirements to make a foreign agent's disclosure of a foreign principal's involvement in certain informational materials more prominent.

To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended, to 
strengthen the conspicuous statement required on certain informational 
                   materials, 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 ``Democracy Dies in Darkness Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) On February 18, 2020, the Department of State 
        designated the China Daily as a foreign mission for the 
        purposes of the Foreign Missions Act (22 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.).
            (2) Under its most recent registration statement required 
        under section 2 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, 
        as amended, the China Daily reported receiving $4,775,792.81 
        from its foreign principal between November 1, 2019, and April 
        30, 2020, for the purpose of disseminating informational 
        materials.
            (3) Between November 2016 and October 2020, the Washington 
        Post received more than $4,600,000, and the Wall Street Journal 
        received more than $6,000,000, for services, including 
        advertising and printing, as disclosed to the Department of 
        Justice.
            (4) Beijing's Global Megaphone, a special report by Freedom 
        House, states that ``Beijing is gaining influence over crucial 
        parts of some countries' information infrastructure, as Chinese 
        technology firms with close ties to the CCP build or acquire 
        content-dissemination platforms used by tens of millions of 
        foreign news consumers.''.
            (5) On January 15, 2020, the Washington Post noted, ``Aware 
        that the audience for the China Daily might be limited, Beijing 
        has adopted a practice it calls `borrowing the boat to reach 
        the sea' to place its content in advertorial China Watch 
        supplements in respected newspapers . . .''.
            (6) A 2019 report published by the School of Advanced 
        International Studies at Johns Hopkins University details how 
        China uses information campaigns to communicate its 
        capabilities, undermine the credibility of foreign political 
        systems, and correct ``misperceptions'' by addressing negative 
        reporting.
            (7) The 2018 annual report of the U.S.-China Economic and 
        Security Review Commission recommends that Congress direct the 
        Department of Justice to clarify labels required by the Foreign 
        Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended, on informational 
        materials disseminated on behalf of foreign principals, such as 
        the China Daily, so that those labels must appear prominently 
        at the top of the first page of such materials.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) foreign governments abuse paid supplements, including 
        paid supplements in the form of newspaper inserts, to propagate 
        disinformation to audiences in the United States through the 
        information infrastructure of the United States;
            (2) the conspicuous statement required under section 4(b) 
        of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 
        U.S.C. 614(b)), plays an important role in upholding the 
        freedom of speech by--
                    (A) clearly distinguishing the author of 
                informational material for its readers; and
                    (B) making the readers of certain informational 
                materials aware that the informational material is paid 
                content; and
            (3) regulations in existence on the date of enactment of 
        this Act allow foreign principals to place the conspicuous 
        statement required under section 4(b) of the Foreign Agents 
        Registration Act of 1938, as amended in an area that is less 
        likely to be viewed by readers, thereby defeating the purpose 
        of the conspicuous statement.

SEC. 4. MODIFICATION OF FARA DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 1 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act 
of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (p), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting a semi-colon; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(q) The term `paid publication supplement' means any 
informational material for which an agent of a foreign principal pays 
to be included as a part of, inserted within, or attached to, a covered 
publication based in the United States.
    ``(r) The term `covered publication'--
            ``(1) means a print or digital--
                    ``(A) news publication;
                    ``(B) magazine;
                    ``(C) journal; and
                    ``(D) informational publication; and
            ``(2) includes a blog or social media website that runs 
        advertisements.''.
    (b) Conspicuous Statement.--Section 4 of the Foreign Agents 
Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 614) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(b)'';
            (2) in paragraph (1), as so designated, by striking ``The 
        Attorney General'' and inserting ``Subject to paragraphs (2) 
        through (4), the Attorney General''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) A conspicuous statement required to be placed in an 
informational material under paragraph (1) shall--
            ``(A) be clearly readable;
            ``(B) have a font color that contrasts with the background 
        color; and
            ``(C) be placed at the top of the first page of the 
        informational material.
    ``(3) An informational material that is a paid publication 
supplement shall include the following disclosure as a part of the 
conspicuous statement required under paragraph (1): `This supplement 
was paid for and prepared on behalf of [name of agent of foreign 
principal], an official publication of [name of foreign principal].'.
    ``(4) If a covered publication in which an informational material 
that is a paid publication supplement is published is not involved in 
the creation of the paid publication supplement, the disclosure 
required under paragraph (3) shall include the following statement: 
`[Name of covered publication] was not involved in the creation of this 
supplement.'''.
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