H.R. 10174: Guaranteeing Rights Against Novel International Tyranny and Extortion Act

This bill would make it harder for foreign governments to use U.S. courts to enforce censorship-related orders against people in the United States.

What the bill does

• It adds a new rule to federal law saying that U.S. courts may not recognize or enforce a foreign court judgment, fine, order, or demand if it is being used to enforce a foreign censorship law.
• It gives a U.S. person who is targeted by such a foreign judgment or demand the right to go to federal court and ask for a declaration that it is not enforceable in the United States.
• It defines a “foreign censorship law” as a foreign law that, among other things:
  • mainly restricts or punishes speech, expressive conduct, or expressive association;
  • targets expression based on its content, viewpoint, or who is speaking; or
  • requires disclosure in a way that would reasonably discourage that expression;
  and that would conflict with First Amendment protections if it were applied in the United States.
• It also changes the federal foreign sovereign immunity rules so that lawsuits under this new section are not blocked by sovereign immunity.

Practical effect

In plain terms, the bill would try to protect people and businesses in the U.S. from having to comply with foreign censorship decisions when those decisions would go against American free-speech protections. If a foreign country tries to collect a penalty or enforce an order in the U.S. based on such a law, U.S. courts would be directed not to help enforce it.

Relevant Companies

• None found