Citation[]
U.S. International Trade Commission, Foreign Censorship, Part 1: Policies and Practices Affecting U.S. Businesses (Feb. 2022) (full-text).
Overview[]
This report addresses foreign government censorship policies and practices, including laws, regulations, and other measures that either directly target the suppression of speech or may be used to enable or facilitate its suppression. This investigation focuses on foreign government censorship-related policies and practices that impede trade and investment by U.S. businesses in key markets.
Industries commonly subject to censorship include digital and non-digital media (such as newspapers, journals, and magazines); producers and distributors of audiovisual content (such as movies and online video, television, books, and music); and social media and internet search providers, as well as computer services more generally. The broad trend toward online publication and communication in the global media and audiovisual services sectors and the heavy reliance on digital distribution for the cross-border provision of news, information, and audiovisual content imply that foreign censorship of the flow of information over digital platforms is having a significant impact on the digital economy. Given this and consistent with the Committee’s request, this report focuses on censorship in the online environment.