A bipartisan group of House members is demanding that the Obama administration develop a plan for stopping terrorist groups like the Islamic State from using Twitter and other forms of social media to expand their influence.
They also have a new legislative proposal for getting there: the Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media Act.
That bill, spearheaded by Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, would require the Obama administration to meet a pledge it made in 2011 to counterterror groups’ use of social media. It would also insist that federal officials report to Congress on what it’s doing to work with social media to solve the problem.
“The threat of ‘lone wolf’ terrorism is greater than ever before thanks to the viral spread of jihadism online,” Poe said Wednesday. “Social media has given [Islamic State] leaders in the Middle East the ability to reach and radicalize teenagers in Western basements — instantly and for free.”
“Jihadists fundraise, spread the cancer of radical Islam and recruit through American social media companies,” he added. “As a result, tens of thousands of foreign fighters from all over the world have left their homes and joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria.”
The bill has support from a small but significant group of House members, including the top Republican and Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee: Reps. Ed Royce, R-Calif, and Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., is another sponsor.
Over the summer, groups that track jihadist threats said Twitter and other companies aren’t doing enough to prevent their companies from being used as a tool of terrorism.
The Counter Extremism Project said it has tried to work with Twitter on this problem, but said the company has been “dismissive to the point of dereliction.”
