; Whereas the United States Government has used the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114–328 ) to place targeted visa and economic sanctions on individuals, including for their roles in the targeted killings of journalists; Whereas, in an effort to counter attacks against journalists, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, in February 2021, announced the Khashoggi Ban, a policy allowing the Department of State to impose visa restrictions on individuals who, acting on behalf of a foreign government, are believed to have been directly engaged in serious, extraterritorial counterdissident activities, including activities that suppress, harass, surveil, threaten, or harm journalists, activists, or other persons perceived to be dissidents for their work; Whereas compiled data from Reporters Without Borders provides alarming indications about growing divisions resulting from the spread of disinformation with the potential to weaken democratic societies; Whereas, according to Reporters Without Borders, a total of 521 journalists were in prison and 84 were missing as of December 14, 2023; Whereas, according to Reporters Without Borders, 45 journalists around the world were killed in direct connection with their work in 2023; Whereas Reporters Without Borders notes that punishments against women journalists are increasing disproportionately, with the number of women journalists in prison rising 30 percent in 2022, and with most of the longest prison sentences handed down against journalists in 2023 coming against women; Whereas Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2024 report marked the 18th consecutive year of decline in global freedom, with an estimated 38 percent of the global population living in countries deemed Not Free