diff --git a/WORKSPACE b/WORKSPACE
index 84ab3ed4..c9aa8caf 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE
+++ b/WORKSPACE
@@ -35,14 +35,6 @@ http_archive(
     urls = ["https://github.com/google/benchmark/archive/0baacde3618ca617da95375e0af13ce1baadea47.zip"],
 )
 
-# C++ rules for Bazel.
-http_archive(
-    name = "rules_cc",  # 2021-06-07T16:41:49Z
-    sha256 = "b295cad8c5899e371dde175079c0a2cdc0151f5127acc92366a8c986beb95c76",
-    strip_prefix = "rules_cc-daf6ace7cfeacd6a83e9ff2ed659f416537b6c74",
-    urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_cc/archive/daf6ace7cfeacd6a83e9ff2ed659f416537b6c74.zip"],
-)
-
 # Bazel platform rules.
 http_archive(
     name = "platforms",
diff --git a/absl/algorithm/BUILD.bazel b/absl/algorithm/BUILD.bazel
index a3002b7d..afc52639 100644
--- a/absl/algorithm/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/algorithm/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/base/BUILD.bazel b/absl/base/BUILD.bazel
index 8b09b6e3..4769efda 100644
--- a/absl/base/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/base/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_binary", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/cleanup/BUILD.bazel b/absl/cleanup/BUILD.bazel
index 5cca898f..2154d9f1 100644
--- a/absl/cleanup/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/cleanup/BUILD.bazel
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/container/BUILD.bazel b/absl/container/BUILD.bazel
index 9e3bc06a..d1df524a 100644
--- a/absl/container/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/container/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_binary", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/debugging/BUILD.bazel b/absl/debugging/BUILD.bazel
index b503da51..3c4ea8dc 100644
--- a/absl/debugging/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/debugging/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/flags/BUILD.bazel b/absl/flags/BUILD.bazel
index 7957c6dd..d20deab4 100644
--- a/absl/flags/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/flags/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_binary", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/functional/BUILD.bazel b/absl/functional/BUILD.bazel
index 4555cd59..f9f2b9c2 100644
--- a/absl/functional/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/functional/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/hash/BUILD.bazel b/absl/hash/BUILD.bazel
index 392b68f1..f0640d34 100644
--- a/absl/hash/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/hash/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/memory/BUILD.bazel b/absl/memory/BUILD.bazel
index d2824a05..c16bf8a9 100644
--- a/absl/memory/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/memory/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/meta/BUILD.bazel b/absl/meta/BUILD.bazel
index 5585fcca..fb379251 100644
--- a/absl/meta/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/meta/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/numeric/BUILD.bazel b/absl/numeric/BUILD.bazel
index ea587bfa..1f9e0f20 100644
--- a/absl/numeric/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/numeric/BUILD.bazel
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/random/BUILD.bazel b/absl/random/BUILD.bazel
index 66ffcbc7..fdde78b6 100644
--- a/absl/random/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/random/BUILD.bazel
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 
 # ABSL random-number generation libraries.
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_binary", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/random/internal/BUILD.bazel b/absl/random/internal/BUILD.bazel
index df6e42fc..e93eebb6 100644
--- a/absl/random/internal/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/random/internal/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_binary", "cc_library", "cc_test")
-
 # Internal-only implementation classes for Abseil Random
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
diff --git a/absl/status/BUILD.bazel b/absl/status/BUILD.bazel
index 30df22ae..0e5b3508 100644
--- a/absl/status/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/status/BUILD.bazel
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 # It will expand later to have utilities around `Status` like `StatusOr`,
 # `StatusBuilder` and macros.
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/strings/BUILD.bazel b/absl/strings/BUILD.bazel
index c45a671e..c046366c 100644
--- a/absl/strings/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/strings/BUILD.bazel
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/synchronization/BUILD.bazel b/absl/synchronization/BUILD.bazel
index 92e2448d..d7195473 100644
--- a/absl/synchronization/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/synchronization/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_binary", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/time/BUILD.bazel b/absl/time/BUILD.bazel
index 3e25ca26..e8c49660 100644
--- a/absl/time/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/time/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/time/internal/cctz/BUILD.bazel b/absl/time/internal/cctz/BUILD.bazel
index f549af66..bdc2e309 100644
--- a/absl/time/internal/cctz/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/time/internal/cctz/BUILD.bazel
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 #   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 #   limitations under the License.
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
-
 package(features = ["-parse_headers"])
 
 licenses(["notice"])
diff --git a/absl/types/BUILD.bazel b/absl/types/BUILD.bazel
index 83be9360..38ed2286 100644
--- a/absl/types/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/types/BUILD.bazel
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",
diff --git a/absl/utility/BUILD.bazel b/absl/utility/BUILD.bazel
index 02b2c407..ca4bc0a6 100644
--- a/absl/utility/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/utility/BUILD.bazel
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_library", "cc_test")
 load(
     "//absl:copts/configure_copts.bzl",
     "ABSL_DEFAULT_COPTS",