Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the bipartisan Jimmy Lai Internet Freedom Act on September 25, 2026. The proposal would fund tools and programs intended to help people in Hong Kong bypass censorship and maintain access to a free and open internet.
The bill is named for Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and Apple Daily publisher who received a 20-year prison sentence after his conviction under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law.
What the proposal would create
The legislation would establish a Hong Kong Internet Freedom Program within the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, together with a corresponding program at the Open Technology Fund. An interagency working group would coordinate a strategy for strengthening internet resilience and online access in Hong Kong.
Its findings trace the tightening of online controls from the National Security Law imposed on June 30, 2020, through the blocking of HKChronicles in January 2021, the mass arrest of 47 pro-democracy activists the following month, and the passage of Hong Kong’s Article 23 national-security legislation in March 2024.
According to the Senate Legislative Counsel draft released by Lankford’s office, eligible grants could support virtual private networks, firewall-circumvention technology, protection against denial-of-service attacks, digital-security training, and emergency support for pro-democracy activists and civil-society groups.
The draft authorizes $5 million annually for the Open Technology Fund and $10 million annually for the State Department’s internet-freedom programs in fiscal years 2027 through 2031. It would also require a classified strategic-planning report to Congress within 120 days of enactment.
“The Chinese Communist Party has spent years tightening its grip on Hong Kong, and now it is working to control what people can see, say, and share online,” Lankford said in announcing the bill.
What remains unresolved
The available draft does not yet list a Senate bill number or committee referral. The measure has been introduced, not enacted: it would still need to pass both chambers and be signed into law. Its funding figures are authorizations, not appropriations, and the text available from Lankford’s office is a Senate Legislative Counsel draft that may differ from the formally introduced version.
Lankford and Kaine previously introduced the Safeguarding Internet Freedom in Hong Kong Act after Beijing imposed the National Security Law, and reintroduced that measure in 2023.
Related reading
- Jimmy Lai media profile
- Jimmy Lai media archive
- Twenty Years for Jimmy Lai: The Prison Record and Human Cost
- The Great Firewall: Technical History, Censorship Mechanisms and Circumvention
Sources
- Office of Senator James Lankford, press release, September 25, 2026
- Senate Legislative Counsel draft DAV26J11, dated September 23, 2026
What you can do
Read the draft before sharing claims about what the bill would fund, and distinguish introduction from passage. Track the formal bill number, committee referral, amendments, votes, and appropriations if the measure advances.