United States of America: Passed Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (HR 8038)

On 20 April 2024, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (HR 8038) was passed by the House of Representatives of the United States as part of the 21st Century Peace through Strength Act. The Act would make the distribution, maintenance, updating, or facilitation of a foreign adversary controlled application in the United States unlawful. The Act defines the term ‘foreign adversary controlled application’ as a website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application that is operated, directly or indirectly by ByteDance Ltd or TikTok. Specifically, the Act prohibits providing services to distribute, maintain, or update such foreign adversary controlled application (including any source code) by means of a marketplace or online mobile application store, and providing internet hosting services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of such foreign adversary controlled application.