No Social Media Accounts for Terrorists or State Sponsors of Terrorism Act of 2021
Bill: H.R.1543 | Sponsor: Rep. Barr, Andy (R-KY)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
No Social Media Accounts for Terrorists or State Sponsors of Terrorism Act of 2021
This bill bars access to certain social media platforms by individuals designated as terrorists or senior officials of a government that is a state sponsor of terrorism.
Specifically, the bill requires the President to prohibit providers of social media platforms (i.e., platforms that allow users to generate and share content and that have over 100,000 active users) from making such platforms available to barred individuals or officials. The bill does, however, allow officials to use these platforms solely for legitimate emergency alert purposes. Violations of this prohibition are subject to civil and criminal penalties.
In addition, the President may waive the prohibition in the interests of U.S. national security.
The Department of the Treasury must report to Congress on (1) the status and impact of the prohibitions of this bill, and (2) efforts to facilitate the free flow of information and access to communications technologies by civil society and democratic activists in Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and other countries controlled by authoritarian regimes.

To provide authorities to prohibit the provision of services by social 
 media platforms to certain individuals and entities on the Specially 
  Designated Nationals List and senior officials of governments of a 
                      state sponsor of terrorism.

    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 ``No Social Media Accounts for 
Terrorists or State Sponsors of Terrorism Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Despite having one of his Twitter accounts suspended, 
        the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, a Specially 
        Designated Global Terrorist by the Department of the Treasury, 
        and the leader of the world's leading State Sponsor of 
        Terrorism, has multiple social media accounts on Twitter and 
        Instagram. The Supreme Leader has used his accounts to threaten 
        violence against Americans, support the destruction of the 
        State of Israel, promote conspiracy theories and disinformation 
        regarding COVID-19 vaccines, and incite anti-Semitism on a 
        number of occasions.
            (2) The Foreign Minister of Iran, Javad Zarif, a senior 
        official of a State Sponsor of Terrorism, has a number of 
        social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram, and other 
        platforms. On January 2, 2021, Zarif tweeted an anti-Semitic 
        conspiracy theory that Israel was plotting attacks on Americans 
        in Iraq.
            (3) The President of the Syria, Bashar al-Assad, 
        responsible for the brutal killing of half a million of his own 
        people, and the President of a State Sponsor of Terrorism, has 
        multiple social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram. He has 
        used his accounts on social media to whitewash and promote his 
        regime, and promote hatred against the United States and 
        Israel.
            (4) The President of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, who heads a 
        regime responsible for multiple gross violations of human 
        rights, and which is a State Sponsor of Terrorism, has an 
        account on Twitter representing the official Cuban Presidency. 
        He has used his account on social media to promote global 
        communism, anti-Americanism, and whitewash the Cuban regime's 
        human rights abuses.
            (5) Terrorist organizations and entities sanctioned for 
        terrorism under Executive Order 13224, including the Iranian 
        Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hezbollah, Kata'ib 
        Hezbollah, Hamas, and Asa'ib ahl al-Haq, have a number of 
        social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and 
        YouTube.
            (6) Social media platforms make a profit on accounts 
        provided and maintained to individuals and entities sanctioned 
        for terrorism through the sale of advertisements which are 
        viewed by such sanctioned individuals through their accounts.
            (7) Economic sanctions prohibiting the provision of 
        services to individuals and entities sanctioned for terrorism 
        should apply to social media platforms, while still supporting 
        the free flow of information and maintaining the important 
        principle that information should remain free of sanctions.

SEC. 3. AUTHORITIES TO PROHIBIT THE PROVISION OF SERVICES BY SOCIAL 
              MEDIA PLATFORMS TO CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES ON 
              THE SPECIALLY DESIGNATED NATIONALS LIST AND SENIOR 
              OFFICIALS OF GOVERNMENTS OF A STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM.

    (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; or
            ``(B) an individual who is a senior official of a 
        government of a state sponsor of terrorism, if such provider 
        knew or should have known that such individual was such a 
        senior official and that such provider was providing such 
        service to such individual.
    ``(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 a state sponsor 
of terrorism described in paragraph (1)(B) solely for legitimate 
emergency alert purposes.
    ``(3) In this subsection--
            ``(A) 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;
            ``(B) 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;
            ``(C) the term `senior official', with respect to the 
        government of a state sponsor of terrorism, means--
                    ``(i) the head of state;
                    ``(ii) the head of government;
                    ``(iii) the Supreme Leader;
                    ``(iv) a member of the cabinet;
                    ``(v) any other high ranking official in the 
                defense, security, or foreign affairs apparatus of the 
                government; or
                    ``(vi) any other official which the President 
                determines to be a `senior official' for purposes of 
                this subparagraph; and
            ``(D) the term `state sponsor of terrorism' means a country 
        the government of which the Secretary of State determines has 
        repeatedly provided support for international terrorism 
        pursuant to--
                    ``(i) section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export Control 
                Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4318(c)(1)(A));
                    ``(ii) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act 
                of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371);
                    ``(iii) section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act 
                (22 U.S.C. 2780); or
                    ``(iv) any other provision of law.''.
            (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--
                    (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; or
                    (B) an individual who is a senior official of a 
                government of a state sponsor of terrorism, if such 
                provider knew or should have known that such individual 
                was such a senior official and that such provider was 
                providing such service to such individual.
            (2) Exception.--The authority granted to the President by 
        this subsection 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 a state sponsor of terrorism described in 
        paragraph (1)(B) solely for legitimate emergency alert 
        purposes.
            (3) 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 such a waiver is in the national 
        security interests of the United States.
            (4) 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) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the Department of the Treasury and the Department of 
        State should encourage the free flow of information in Iran, 
        Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and other countries controlled by 
        authoritarian regimes in order to counter such regimes' 
        repression of their peoples; and
            (2) in order to facilitate the free flow of information in 
        such countries, in implementing this Act and the amendments 
        made by this Act, the Department of Treasury should ensure that 
        consumer communication technologies, as well as tools to 
        circumvent government censorship, are available to civil 
        society and democratic activists in such countries.
    (d) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act or any amendment 
made by this Act--
            (1) may be construed to restrict the ability of the general 
        populations of Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and other 
        countries controlled by authoritarian regimes to create or 
        maintain accounts or profiles on social media platforms for 
        individuals or entities not listed in paragraph (1) of 
        subsection (c) of the International Emergency Economic Powers 
        Act (50 U.S.C. 1702), as added by subsection (a) of this 
        section; and
            (2) may be construed to restrict or prohibit private 
        communications.
    (e) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation 
with the Secretary of State, shall submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report on--
            (1) the status of sanctions imposed pursuant to subsection 
        (b), including the impact of such sanctions on the sanctioned 
        individuals and entities; and
            (2) efforts taken to facilitate the free flow of 
        information in Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and other 
        countries controlled by authoritarian regimes and access to 
        communications technologies by civil society and democratic 
        activists in such countries.
    (f) 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 Act and 
        the amendments made by this Act.
            (2) Notification to congress.--No later than 10 days before 
        the prescription of regulations under subsection (1), the 
        President shall notify the appropriate congressional committees 
        regarding the proposed regulations and the provisions this Act 
        and the amendments made by this Act that the regulations are 
        implementing.
    (g) 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 of the Senate.
            (2) Covered service; senior official; social media 
        platform; state sponsor of terrorism.--The terms ``covered 
        service'', ``senior official'', ``social media platform'', and 
        ``state sponsor of terrorism'' 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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