Bipartisan bill pushes DHS to review terrorist risks from foreign-based mobile apps

Lawmakers want the Department of Homeland Security to assess how terrorist groups have used foreign mobile apps to recruit members, receive funding and promote their violent ideologies. 

In legislation introduced on Tuesday by Reps. August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., the congressmen said that “increasing utilization of foreign cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging applications by terrorist organizations represent a national security threat, and the challenges posed by such threat are not well understood.”

Within 180 days of the bill’s enactment, DHS — in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence — would be required to submit a report to relevant congressional committees detailing potential threats posed by terrorist organizations who utilize the specified apps. The agency would also be mandated to submit the analysis to lawmakers on an annual basis for an additional five years. 

That first analysis would include details on incidents in which terrorists have used foreign mobile apps “to radicalize and recruit individuals.” Additional assessments would then have to include how radical groups use the apps to receive online payments and recommendations on “appropriate measures” to counter these threats.

While the legislation said DHS analyses would apply to individuals or entities that own or operate a platform and have ties to a foreign adversary or a terrorist group, it also named ten specific apps that largely have ties to China or Russia and would be covered by the requirements. 

These included ByteDance, Douyin, Redz, Tamtam, Telegram, TikTok, Vkontakte, WeChat, Weibo and Zapya.

Pfluger — who chairs the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement and Intelligence — said the use of these apps by foreign adversaries shows “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.”

Terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah and ISIS, have used apps such as Telegram to coordinate with other members and recruit new followers. Iran and its proxies have also used foreign- and U.S.-based apps to spread misinformation and anti-Israeli content in the midst of the ongoing war in Gaza. 

The government has taken some steps to counter domestic use of several foreign-based platforms that have been used for reportedly nefarious purposes, with officials paying particular attention to the popular video app TikTok.

President Joe Biden signed legislation in April that would ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. unless it divests from its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance. Federal officials and members of the intelligence community have warned about Beijing’s influence over the app, as well as the type of content directed to users. TikTok has filed a lawsuit against the government to maintain its current operations.