WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, and Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) reintroduced bipartisan legislation to protect Americans from maligned foreign adversaries. The Countering Online Radicalization and Terrorism Act will require the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct annual assessments on terrorism threats posed to the United States by terrorist organizations utilizing foreign, cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging applications.

“More than 20 years after 9/11, the advent of cloud-based technology has given terrorist groups even more tools to use in their pursuit of deadly chaos,” said Rep. Pfluger. “Foreign-controlled apps like TikTok and encrypted messaging platforms like Telegram have shined a disturbing light on the lengths America’s enemies will go to attack our way of life and radicalize young minds with violent extremist ideology, as well as the terrifying potency of their grotesque messages when disseminated on platforms with almost unlimited reach. Considering the heightened threat landscape created by terrorist organizations around the world, especially as we saw in October of 2023 with the devastating terrorist attack in Israel, DHS must take steps to assess and address this threat before it’s too late.”

“Terrorist organizations and U.S. adversaries understand the power of social media and the ability for foreign-owned cloud-based mobile and desktop applications to advance their agendas,” said Rep. Panetta.  “This bipartisan bill would protect our citizens by better equipping the Department of Homeland Security to detect and monitor any vulnerabilities on foreign-owned applications and assess the threats they pose to our national security. Understanding how terrorist networks communicate is essential to stopping future attacks.”

Text of this legislation is available here.

Background:

· Foreign cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging applications like TikTok and Telegram have allowed their platforms to become a breeding ground for radical extremism. Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) like Hamas, Hizballah, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and others frequently use foreign-owned cloud-based mobile and desktop applications to recruit new members, fundraise, provoke others to violence, and coordinate terrorist activity. ISIS has even urged its supporters to connect with ISIS contacts on Telegram to discuss matters like travel to ISIS-held territory. 

· Since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 terror attacks in Israel, we have seen multiple instances in which Hamas’ military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, utilized foreign applications to spread extremist and grotesque content online and called for additional terrorist attacks against the United States and Israel.

· In December 2023, Subcommittee Chairman Pfluger held a roundtable on the growing trend of anti-Semitism on U.S. college campuses, especially through social media, in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks against Israel by Hamas terrorists. 

· In March 2024, the Committee convened a hearing to examine the current status of Iran’s axis of resistance and the implications for homeland security and U.S. interests. The Committee heard testimony from officials at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the State Department.

· In May 2024, Subcommittee Chairman Pfluger and Committee Chairman Mark Green sent a letter to former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, requesting information and documents pertaining to any efforts by DHS and the FBI to assist law enforcement and other partners in response to anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas mobs on college campuses.

· Last year, millions of TikTok users viewed videos glorifying Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America,” which attempted to promote and justify al-Qaeda’s terrorist attack against the United States on September 11, 2001. Pro-ISIS TikTok accounts have also been found celebrating a recent attack in Paris, where a man who had allegedly videotaped a pledge of allegiance to ISIS killed a man and hurt two others using a hammer and a knife. 

In January 2024, Chairman Pfluger sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas and Director Wray, requesting a briefing on the departments’ work as part of the administration’s ongoing interagency review of TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd. Chairman Pfluger received the briefing in February 2024.