Public Law P.L. 118-50 — PAFACAA — Division H of P.L. 118-50, enacted 2024-04-24. Every recorded vote below is cited to the official government record.
Congress forced a speech platform to change owners or die — the Act makes it unlawful for app stores and web hosts to distribute or update a "foreign adversary controlled application," naming TikTok and ByteDance in the statute itself, unless the President approves a divestiture. It was enacted inside a must-pass foreign-aid bill, and the objectors came from both parties.
Enacted · in_force · The official record
| Section | What it does | Official text |
|---|---|---|
| 2(a) | Prohibits distribution, maintenance, updating, and internet hosting of a covered application. | The text |
| 2(g)(3) | Designates by name TikTok, ByteDance Ltd., and their subsidiaries and successors as foreign adversary controlled applications — naming specific private entities in the text of a statute rather than leaving the designation to an agency process. | The text |
| 2(c) | Defines "qualified divestiture" and vests the determination in the President, so the prohibition can be lifted only by an executive judgment. | The text |
| 3 | Vests exclusive jurisdiction over constitutional and other challenges in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, with a statute of limitations measured in days rather than years. | The text |
| Stage | The question | Date | Tally | What we could not get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| House floor | On passage | |||
| House floor — related vote | On Passage | |||
| Senate — cloture | On invoking cloture — deciding whether the body may vote at all | |||
| Senate floor | On passage | |||
| Senate floor — related vote | ||||
| Senate floor — related vote | On the Cloture Motion H.R. 815 | |||
| Senate floor — related vote | On the Motion (Motion to Waive: Section 314(e) of the C.B.A. re: the House Amdt to the Senate Amdt to H.R. 815) | |||
| House — amendment exchange | On the amendment between the houses | |||
| Senate — amendment exchange | On the amendment between the houses |