§8754a Strategy and grant program to promote internet freedom in Iran

Summary

The Secretary of State must, within 90 days after December 23, 2024, create a plan to help people and groups in Iran get better access to information. The plan must look at how Iranians use virtual private networks (VPNs), how people who do not use VPNs get online (including speed, coverage, censorship, and surveillance), ways to make VPNs easier to get, other tools that can bypass internet limits, how companies that help Iranians reach the open internet can do so, Iran’s ability to shut off the whole internet, and ways to get around internet blackouts. An updated version of the plan must be sent to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations no later than 120 days after December 23, 2024. The plan must be reviewed at least twice a year and updated if needed. The plan sent to Congress must be unclassified but can include a classified annex. The Secretary of State may give grants or contracts, working with USAID and the Open Technology Fund as appropriate, to private groups to support programs in Iran that promote a open, secure internet and the online human rights of civil society. Programs should aim to support unrestricted internet access, increase tools and their spread to get around technical and political blocks, study repressive internet tactics, teach digital safety, or work with private companies to keep internet access open. Grants must be chosen using evidence. New technologies made with grant money must pass a full security audit to make sure they are not compromised in ways that harm U.S. interests or the people who use them. The law authorizes $15,000,000 for the Open Technology Fund for each of fiscal years 2025 and 2026 for this grant program, and that money may remain available until spent.