Sec. 8. Increasing coordination and resources for censorship circumvention, secure sharing, and content creation initiatives
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/bill/119/s/417/is/section-8A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
The President shall establish an interagency task force composed of representatives from the Department, National Security Council staff, and representatives from other Federal departments and agencies, as appropriate, as designated by the President. The President shall appoint a coordinator for the interagency task force established pursuant to subsection (a). The Coordinator shall— convene and coordinate the work of the interagency task force established pursuant to subsection (a); oversee the development and execution of the strategy described in section 6; and oversee the efforts of the Department described in subsection (d), in consultation, as appropriate, with relevant Department officials, including officials reporting to— the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs; the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; the Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy; and the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
The interagency task force shall— develop and execute the strategy described in section 6(a); and increase the coordination, within the Department and between relevant Federal departments and agencies, as appropriate, of Mandarin Chinese-language content development and dissemination, internet circumvention, and secure content-sharing tools specific to the PRC’s censorship regime. The Department, in consultation with relevant members of the interagency task force, shall oversee the development of compelling, timely, and relevant Mandarin Chinese-language content for a variety of audiences within the PRC and the dissemination of such content through a variety of tools and platforms within and outside the PRC.
The Department, in coordination with relevant entities, other Federal departments and agencies, and external experts, as appropriate, shall seek to increase funding for programs and open source software that expand upon and develop new tools for internet circumvention and secure content sharing that are specifically tailored to evade the PRC censorship apparatus, including within the PRC, and improve immediate access to independent information for the end users of such tools.
The Department shall seek to increase funding for media freedom, investigative journalism, and content development initiatives, including by establishing and expanding a network of individual and independent journalists or media companies and social media influencers that investigate and produce articles, reports, and other content related to real-time social, political, and economic events in the PRC— in which citizens of the PRC are directly interested; and which can be accessed and amplified through a variety of tools and platforms within and outside the PRC digital ecosystem.
The Department shall seek to increase the volume of— effective and high-quality Mandarin Chinese-language content for dissemination through Mission China’s social media and other content sharing platforms; material that can be disseminated to citizens of the PRC residing outside of the PRC and the PRC censorship apparatus; and content that focuses on quality of life issues in the United States that are directly relatable to issues in the PRC, including issues related to food safety, environmental sustainability, health care delivery, economic security and the jobs market, the investment climate, treatment of women, the treatment of marginalized populations, and government transparency.
The Department shall— increase and refine Mandarin Chinese-language content directed towards citizens of the PRC residing within or outside the PRC; and work with external organizations, as appropriate, to regularly conduct credible, periodic surveys to gauge and assess issues of domestic and international importance to citizens of the PRC to inform the work of the interagency task force established pursuant to subsection
(a)and the ongoing iteration by the Department of effective, high-quality Mandarin Chinese-language content. The USAGM and relevant Federal and non-Federal entities shall— carry out the actions described in paragraphs
(2)through (5); and work with independent content creators, citizen journalists, and media organizations, as appropriate, to curate, disseminate, and amplify the highest-impact Mandarin Chinese-language content across USAGM entities to citizens of the PRC. Radio Free Asia, consistent with its congressional mandate, shall— deliver independent, uncensored, PRC-specific news and information in local languages to audiences in the PRC and in other countries; and increase coverage and digital Mandarin Chinese-language programming on political, economic, and social issues in the PRC, including by— expanding RFA’s Mandarin Chinese-language platforms; prioritizing instances of PRC disinformation about PRC-internal topics directed towards Chinese citizens through its bilingual Asia Fact Check Lab; and providing insights to the interagency task force established pursuant to subsection
(a)regarding— content development strategies; priority topic areas salient to citizens of the PRC; and data about access to and engagement with Mandarin Chinese-language RFA content among citizens of the PRC. Topic areas at RFA’s editorial discretion referred to in subparagraph (A)(ii)(III)(bb) should include— quality of life in the PRC; and human rights, the rule of law, and good governance issues in the PRC that are relevant and important to broad segments of the population of the PRC. Voice of America shall, to the extent appropriate— increase content of interest to citizens of the PRC; and provide insights to the interagency task force established pursuant to subsection
(a)regarding— content development strategies; priority topic areas salient to citizens of the PRC; and data about access to and engagement with Mandarin Chinese-language VOA content among citizens of the PRC. The Open Technology Fund shall— support the development and adoption of open source circumvention and secure communications tools that are tailored for use in the PRC; increase engagement with private sector technology companies, universities, and other relevant stakeholders to develop the next generation of internet circumvention and secure content sharing tools that— are specifically tailored to the PRC’s censorship regime; and can rapidly increase access to and secure sharing of independent information; issue regular public solicitations for students and other civil society groups in the United States and in like-minded countries specializing in the cybersecurity and technology fields to research and develop the next generation of internet circumvention and secure content sharing tools that directly target the PRC censorship regime; and regularly consult with the interagency task force established pursuant to subsection
(a)regarding matters related to the development and adoption of circumvention and secure content sharing tools among citizens of the PRC, and inform about research and other technical needs related to circumvention of the PRC censorship regime and secure content sharing. The Global News Service shall— seek to curate, translate, distribute, and make available content about or related to the People's Republic of China and the People's Republic of China's malign activities globally, in coordination with Voice of America's and Radio Free Asia's Mandarin Chinese language news service; offer such content in Mandarin Chinese and English for the purpose of making fact-based, uncensored China-related news available to news organizations, independent journalists, and online content creators around the world; prioritize making available such content to media outlets in the countries that are influenced by CCP state media; and target the Chinese diaspora abroad, through its Mandarin Chinese language news service. There is authorized to be appropriated to the Department, for each of the fiscal years 2025 through 2029, $25,000,000, which— shall be expended for ongoing and new programs in furtherance of the strategy required under section 6(a) and the functions and objectives set forth in subsections
(c)and (d); and may be expended to contract with an external organization with expertise in surveying populations in the PRC and the broader Indo-Pacific region. There is authorized to be appropriated to the USAGM, for each of the fiscal years 2025 through 2029, $50,000,000, which shall be expended— to carry out the functions of the Global News Service, as set forth in section 309B of the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994, as added in section 7(a); and for ongoing and new programs in pursuing the objectives set forth in subsection (e).