[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9850 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9850
To protect and promote American values abroad, including the rights of
freedom of speech and freedom of expression enshrined in the United
States Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, through the use of foreign assistance and by assuring
U.S. law enforcement does not cooperate in censorship abroad.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 25, 2024
Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Jordan, and Ms. Salazar)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To protect and promote American values abroad, including the rights of
freedom of speech and freedom of expression enshrined in the United
States Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, through the use of foreign assistance and by assuring
U.S. law enforcement does not cooperate in censorship abroad.
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 Funding or Enforcement of
Censorship Abroad Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) On March 5, 2018, U.S. FBI agents, including a special
agent, a Cyber Operations supervisor, and a Department of
Justice agent specializing in counterespionage to thwart
foreign interference, met with a special council of the
Brazilian Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to discuss efforts by
the United States Department of Justice and the FBI to fight
``fake news'' and ``protecting the integrity of elections''.
(2) Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes
received and implemented recommendations on censoring content
from several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including
the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), which is funded by
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the
U.S. State Department.
(3) In 2022, the National Science Foundation (NSF),
supported by the U.S. Congress, gave a $200,000 grant to the
George Washington University for countering disinformation in
Brazil and three other countries.
(4) Throughout 2022 and 2023, Justice de Moraes banned
Paulo Figueiredo, a Brazilian journalist living in the U.S.,
from social media platforms in Brazil.
(5) In August 2023, the Consortium for Elections and
Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), which is funded by the
Global Elections and Political Transitions (GEPT) Program at
USAID, formed a key partnership with the Superior Electoral
Court in Brazil (TSE) and worked together to discuss censorship
strategies.
(6) In December 2023, Justice de Moraes demanded that
Rumble, a video-sharing platform with its corporate
headquarters in the United States, remove certain creators from
its platform.
(7) Later that month, Rumble suspended its service in
Brazil rather than comply with the unlawful demands of Justice
de Moraes.
(8) On April 3, 2024, Michael Shellenberger published the
``Twitter Files--Brazil'' sharing Justice de Moraes's illegal
demands for Twitter to disclose information about users in
2020.
(9) On April 6, 2024, X (formerly known as Twitter), an
American technology company, announced that a Brazilian court
had forced it to block certain accounts in Brazil.
(10) On April 7, 2024, Justice de Moraes announced a
criminal investigation into Elon Musk, the owner of X and a
U.S. citizen, for spreading disinformation, obstructing
justice, and continuing to allow people de Moraes banned to
express their views on X.
(11) On April 18 and 19, 2024, Brazilian Federal Police
published two reports suggesting that Michael Shellenberger was
under investigation for publishing the ``Twitter Files--
Brazil''.
(12) In August 2024, Brazil's Supreme Court instituted a
ban on X.
(13) As of September 2024, the U.S. Department of State has
remained silent and neglected its mission to champion
democratic institutions and human rights.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that the United States Government
should promote the universal values of freedom of speech and freedom of
expression around the world and should not facilitate nor promote
online censorship through foreign assistance programs and should not
facilitate nor promote online censorship through cooperation with
foreign governments and their law enforcement agencies.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE THAT ENCOURAGES ONLINE CENSORSHIP.
(a) No assistance may be furnished under the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), for the benefit of any foreign entity
if the Secretary of State has credible information that such foreign
entity has engaged in, facilitated, or promoted, or will imminently
engage in, facilitate, or promote censorship of lawful speech online.
(b) The prohibition in subsection (a) shall not apply if the
Secretary determines and reports to the appropriate congressional
committees that the foreign entity has ceased engaging in,
facilitating, or promoting online censorship.
SEC. 5. RESTRICTION ON LAW ENFORCEMENT COOPERATION WITH FOREIGN ONLINE
CENSORSHIP.
(a) No assistance or cooperation may be furnished by Federal law
enforcement officials in response to a request from a foreign law
enforcement agency if the Attorney General has credible information
that such a request will cause, facilitate, or promote censorship of
protected speech online.
(b) In making a determination under this section, the Attorney
General shall consult with the Secretary of State and, as appropriate,
the Director of National Intelligence.
(c) The Attorney General shall provide a report to the appropriate
congressional committees on an annual basis listing and describing all
determinations made under this section, which may be submitted in
classified form.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on
Foreign Relations, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the
Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, and the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
(2) Foreign entity.--The term ``foreign entity'' means--
(A) any agency, ministry, office, or subdivision of
a foreign government;
(B) an international organization; or
(C) a nongovernmental organization with operations
outside of the United States.
(3) Foreign law enforcement agency.--The term ``foreign law
enforcement agency'' has the meaning given such term in section
44, title 15 of the United States Code.
(4) Online censorship.--
(A) In general.--The term ``online censorship''
means--
(i) a request or demand that an electronic
communications service provider, as such term
is defined in section 2510 of title 18 of the
United States Code, with its headquarters in
the United States remove, disable, suppress, or
otherwise censor a communication on its service
that contains protected speech and is not
otherwise prohibited by the provider's terms of
service; and
(ii) orders issued by Brazilian Supreme
Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to electronic
communications services providers with their
headquarters in the United States after January
1, 2022, that demand that the electronic
communications services provider remove,
disable, suppress, or otherwise censor a
communication on its service that contains
protected speech and is not otherwise
prohibited by the provider's terms of service.
(B) Exception.--The term ``online censorship''
shall not include--
(i) any request or demand related to the
communications of, or content posted by, a
foreign terrorist organization designated under
section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality
Act; and
(ii) any request or demand related to an
apparent violation of sections 2251, 2251A,
2252, 2252A, 2252B, of 2260 that involves child
pornography, of section 1591 (if the violation
involves a minor), or of section 2422(b) of
title 18 of the United States Code.
(5) Protected speech.--The term ``protected speech'' means
speech protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution
of the United States or speech that would be so protected if
the speaker were located in the United States.
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