Congress demands transparency: where is your data stored?
H.R. 2403 — TELL Act · Filed by Rick Allen (R-GA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 27, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill requires any website or mobile app that stores user data in China to disclose that fact clearly to users, and to state whether the Chinese Communist Party or Chinese state-owned entities can access that data. The FTC enforces it as an unfair or deceptive practice, with penalties under existing FTC authority.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a mandatory disclosure requirement for companies storing user data in China. It is a consumer-protection and transparency measure, not a ban or restriction on data storage itself—companies may continue storing data in China, but must disclose it.
What the text implies
- Disclosure requirement may incentivize some companies to move data storage out of China to avoid negative user perception, though the bill does not mandate this.
- Enforcement relies on FTC's existing unfair/deceptive-practice authority; no new enforcement mechanism or funding is created, so FTC capacity to investigate and prosecute violations is unclear.
- Bill does not define what constitutes 'clear and conspicuous' disclosure, leaving room for regulatory interpretation and potential litigation over compliance standards.
- Applies only to data stored in China; does not address data stored in other countries or data shared with foreign governments through other means.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens gain material transparency about where their personal data is stored and who may access it, enabling informed consent and choice. The disclosure requirement creates no new restrictions on citizens' rights or remedies; it only requires companies to tell the truth about data practices.
Named in the bill
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), People's Republic of China, Chinese Communist Party, Chinese State-owned entities, Internet website operators, Mobile application developers
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Democrats.
- Mar 27, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 27, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,667 characters) on Aug 17, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress demands transparency: where is your data stored?” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr2403 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.