(A) In General. The term ‘”covered company’” means an entity that operates, directly or indirectly (including through a parent company, subsidiary, or affiliate), a website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application that meets all of the following criteria:
Permits user account creation:
Allows users to create an account or profile to generate, share, and view text, images, videos, real-time communications, or similar content.
Has a large user base: Has more than 1,000,000 monthly active users for at least two out of the three months preceding a relevant determination by the President under subsection (3)(B).
Enables user-generated content: Enables one or more users to generate or distribute content that can be viewed by other users of the platform.
Allows viewing of user-generated content: Enables one or more users to view content generated by other users of the platform.
(B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘covered company’’ does not include an entity that operates a website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application whose primary purpose is to allow users to post product reviews, business reviews, or travel information and reviews.
So it needs to be some form of social media, of some kind: You need to have a million users, account creation and viewing and creation of user-generated content.
Note that Russian or Chinese equivalents of Gmail also seem to match. A large user base (the law does not even state that this has to be US user base), and users certainly do generate and view content.
(And yes, a foreign adversary control over e-mail servers used by people living here might easily be a natsec problem, even if there are no viral influence aspects.)
So, deliberately or accidentally, the true technical reach of the bill seems to be somewhat larger than just social media...
a technical remark:
Note that Russian or Chinese equivalents of Gmail also seem to match. A large user base (the law does not even state that this has to be US user base), and users certainly do generate and view content.
(And yes, a foreign adversary control over e-mail servers used by people living here might easily be a natsec problem, even if there are no viral influence aspects.)
So, deliberately or accidentally, the true technical reach of the bill seems to be somewhat larger than just social media...