In the Congress of the United States
119th Congress — 1st Session
ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act
Your Tax Dollars
Congressional Research Service Summary
The RESTRICT Act — initially dubbed the ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act — would grant the Secretary of Commerce broad authority to review and potentially ban technology transactions with foreign adversaries that pose national security risks. The bill targeted information and communications technology products and services from countries including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela.
Bill Details
This bipartisan bill was one of several legislative responses to concerns about TikTok and other foreign-controlled technology platforms. Unlike narrower TikTok-specific bills, the ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act (later rebranded as the RESTRICT Act) provided a broader framework for the executive branch to address technology-related national security threats from any foreign adversary.
The bill attracted criticism from both civil liberties advocates, who worried about its sweeping scope and potential criminal penalties for users who circumvented bans via VPNs, and from China hawks who felt it didn’t go far enough. With 22 bipartisan cosponsors, it was one of the more seriously considered approaches before the House’s H.R. 7521 ultimately became law. The original name, however, remains a monument to the art of the congressional backronym.
Source: This is a real bill introduced in the 118th Congress. View on Congress.gov.
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