[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 319 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 319
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 12, 2021
Mr. Wicker introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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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