Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act

Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act

Long title	An Act to protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications, such as TikTok and any successor application or service and any other application or service developed or provided by ByteDance Ltd. or an entity under the control of ByteDance Ltd.
Enacted by	the 118th United States Congress
Announced in	the 118th United States Congress
Effective	April 24, 2024
Citations
Public law	U.S. Public Law 118-50
Statutes at Large	138 Stat. 955
Codification
U.S.C. sections created	15 U.S.C. § 9901
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 7521 by Mike Gallagher (R–WI) on March 5, 2024 Committee consideration by United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce Passed the House on March 13, 2024 (352–65) Passed the House as H.R. 8038 [a] on April 20, 2024 (360–58) Agreed to by the Senate[a] on April 23, 2024 (79-18)   Signed into law by President Joe Biden on April 24, 2024
United States Supreme Court cases
TikTok v. Garland (2025)

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) is an act of Congress that was signed into law on April 24, 2024, as part of Public Law 118-50. It would ban social networking services within 270 days if they are determined by the president of the United States and relevant provisions to be a "foreign adversary controlled application", with a possible extension of up to 90 days to be granted by the president; the definition covers websites and application software, including mobile apps. The act explicitly applies to ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries—including TikTok—without the need for additional determination, with the company to become compliant by January 19, 2025. It ceases to be applicable if the foreign adversary controlled application is divested and no longer considered to be controlled by a foreign adversary of the United States.^[b]

PAFACA was introduced as H.R. 7521 during the 118th United States Congress by representatives Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi,^[c] following years of various attempts by federal lawmakers to ban TikTok in the country. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives on March 13, 2024. A modified version was passed by the House on April 20 as a rider to a foreign aid package, which was then passed by the Senate on April 23.

The bill was the subject of extensive lobbying by TikTok and ByteDance, as well as several advocacy groups and corporations. Critics of the act say a forced sale under the threat of a ban may be a violation of the First Amendment or motivated by political opinions regarding the Israel–Hamas war, and that a comprehensive privacy legislation would be more appropriate than singling out TikTok. TikTok and ByteDance filed a lawsuit against the legislation on May 7, 2024. The U.S. Supreme Court, on January 17, 2025, upheld the earlier U.S. District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, finding the law to be constitutional and did not violate the First Amendment. The Biden administration left enforcement of the law to the then pending Trump administration.

TikTok shuttered its site on January 18, 2025, a day before it was due to be removed from app stores. Google and Apple removed it from their app stores on January 19, 2025. Trump signed the executive order on January 20 following his inauguration, delaying the enforcement of PAFACA for at least^{[clarification needed]} 75 days for his administration to have "an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward". TikTok and other ByteDance apps remained unable to be downloaded from app stores in the aftermath of the ban,^[2][3] until being restored in mid-February.^[4]

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