Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) applauded today’s bipartisan passage of H.R. 3654, Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of 2015.  The bipartisan legislation, introduced by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), requires President Obama to lay out a strategy to counter terrorist use of social media.

On the legislation’s passage, Chairman Royce said: “Terrorists are exploiting social media to recruit supporters, radicalize, raise money and spread fear.  Yet U.S. government efforts have not adapted to counter this ‘virtual caliphate.’

“As we learned from the San Bernardino terrorist attack, ignoring the online statements of terrorists only puts Americans at risk.  We must stop terrorists from hijacking social networks for their twisted purposes.  This bipartisan legislation will require the Obama administration to get serious about this threat, and lay out a comprehensive strategy to keep America safe.”

Note: Following a bipartisan letter from Reps. Poe, Engel, Sherman and Chairman Royce, last March, Twitter strengthened their policies to assert that statements “threatening or promoting terrorism” were against Twitter’s terms of service.

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