Sec. 8. Supporting internet freedom in Hong Kong

315 words·~1 min read·/bill/118/s/5454/is/section-8

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

The Secretary of State shall establish within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor a program to be known as the Hong Kong Internet Freedom Program . The Secretary of State, working through the Hong Kong Internet Freedom Program, is authorized to award grants to private organizations to support and develop programs in Hong Kong that promote or expand— online information access; freedom of the press; disruptive technologies that bypass internet blocking, filtering, and other censorship techniques; virtual private networks; firewall circumvention tools; distributed denial of service mitigation techniques; digital security capacity building for internet users; or digital resiliency for international organizations, pro-democracy activists, and other civil society actors in Hong Kong, including emergency support.

Any new technologies developed using grants authorized under this subsection shall undergo comprehensive security audits to ensure that such technologies are secure and have not been compromised in a manner detrimental to the interests of the United States or to individuals or organizations benefitting from programs supported by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor or the Open Technology Fund. During the period beginning on the effective date of this Act and ending on September 30, 2030, the program established pursuant to subsection

(a)shall be carried out independently from the internet freedom portfolios relating to mainland China in order to focus on internet freedom in Hong Kong. Beginning on October 1, 2030, the Secretary of State may— consolidate the Hong Kong Internet Freedom Program with the initiatives relating to mainland China in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; or continue to carry out the Hong Kong Internet Freedom Program in accordance with subsection (b). There is authorized to be appropriated to the Office of Internet Freedom Programs of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the Department of State $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to carry out this section.