Sponsors (7)
The bill improves homeland‑security monitoring and local/federal information‑sharing about foreign cloud‑based messaging apps but raises significant privacy, economic, and administrative trade‑offs, including risks of surveillance, platform stigmatization, and added costs.
Taxpayers, local governments, federal employees, and law enforcement will receive more frequent, focused threat assessments about terrorist use of foreign cloud‑based messaging apps, improving detection and response and potentially reducing terrorism risks.
State and local fusion centers and federal agencies will share and contribute intelligence on threats tied to foreign messaging apps, improving local prevention, coordination, and allocation of resources.
Citizens and policymakers will gain more transparency through regular public (unclassified) summaries about terrorism risks associated with specific foreign apps, informing public awareness and oversight.
Users and the general public face increased privacy and civil‑liberty risks if the bill’s assessments lead to expanded surveillance, broader data collection, or sharing of detailed threat information without strong safeguards.
Designating broad categories of 'foreign cloud‑based' apps or naming platforms could stigmatize widely used services and prompt operational restrictions that disproportionately harm users and immigrant communities.
Monitoring, reviewing, and reporting on app features (including payments) — and any resulting pressure on platforms — could impose costs, disrupt commerce, and reduce access for users and small businesses that rely on those services.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires DHS, with ODNI input, to produce an initial and annual five-year public assessment of terrorism threats tied to foreign cloud-based messaging apps, covering payment features and recommendations.
Introduced February 11, 2025 by August Pfluger · Last progress February 11, 2025
Requires the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Director of National Intelligence, to produce an initial and then annual public assessment for five years of terrorism threats posed by foreign cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging apps. The reports must analyze radicalization/recruitment incidents, address online payment features, include recommendations, be coordinated with DHS legal/privacy/civil liberties offices, and be shared with and briefed to Congress and relevant state/local fusion centers.