The Art of War: Global Speech Diktats and the Regulatory Challenges to Address Foreign Political Censorship

China’s global rise and influence is reflected in its long arm reach into many transnational sectors that shape public opinion, including media, publishing, academia and sports. However, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has become more emboldened to use economic incentives (or punishment) to induce foreign industries to either self-censor or advance the CCP’s political messaging. This work examines proposed and existing U.S. federal regulatory mechanisms that could potentially address extraterritorial censorship and propaganda, with particular attention paid to their application to China. This work begins with a modest review of the CCP’s adoption of “sharp power” pursuant to advancing the regime’s political agenda, before addressing the ways the CCP harnesses economic statecraft to censor and influence global political narratives.

This Article will then explore both proposed and existing regulatory mechanisms that could potentially be employed to address foreign-based censorship, and finally highlight the constitutional and regulatory challenges with their enforcement.