I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1212 
To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct annual assessments 
on terrorism threats to the United States posed by terrorist organizations 
utilizing foreign cloud-based mobile or desktop messaging applications, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 11, 2025 
Mr. PFLUGER (for himself, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. WEBER of Texas, and Mr. 
EVANS of Colorado) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Homeland Security 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct 
annual assessments on terrorism threats to the United 
States posed by terrorist organizations utilizing foreign 
cloud-based mobile or desktop messaging applications, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Countering Online 
Radicalization and Terrorism Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE USE OF FOR-
EIGN CLOUD-BASED MOBILE AND DESKTOP 
MESSAGING APPLICATIONS FOR TERRORIST 
ACTIVITY. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the heightened terrorism threat landscape 
and the increasing utilization of foreign cloud-based 
mobile and desktop messaging applications by ter-
rorist organizations represent a national security 
threat, and the challenges posed by such threat are 
not well understood; and 
(2) the Department of Homeland Security, in 
consultation with the Office of the Director of Na-
tional Intelligence, must take steps to recognize, as-
sess, and address such threat, thereby reducing risks 
to the people of the United States. 
SEC. 3. ANNUAL ASSESSMENTS ON TERRORISM THREATS 
TO THE UNITED STATES POSED BY TER-
RORIST ORGANIZATIONS UTILIZING FOREIGN 
CLOUD-BASED MOBILE AND DESKTOP MES-
SAGING APPLICATIONS. 
(a) ASSESSMENTS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act and an-
nually thereafter for five years, the Secretary of 
Homeland Security, in consultation with the Direc-
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tor of National Intelligence, shall submit to the ap-
propriate congressional committees an assessment of 
terrorism threats to the United States posed by ter-
rorist organizations utilizing foreign cloud-based mo-
bile or desktop messaging applications. 
(2) CONTENTS.—The terrorism threat assess-
ments under paragraph (1) shall address the fol-
lowing: 
(A) In the first such assessment, an anal-
ysis of incidents in which terrorist organizations 
have utilized foreign cloud-based mobile and 
desktop messaging applications to facilitate the 
ability to radicalize and recruit individuals. 
(B) Information related to online payment 
features of foreign cloud-based mobile and desk-
top messaging applications, and how such fea-
tures provide monetary support to terrorist or-
ganizations. 
(C) 
Recommendations 
on 
appropriate 
measures to address terrorism threats to the 
United States posed by terrorist organizations 
utilizing foreign cloud-based mobile or desktop 
messaging applications. 
(3) COORDINATION.—Each terrorism threat as-
sessment under paragraph (1)— 
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(A) shall be coordinated with the Office of 
the General Counsel, the Privacy Office, and 
the Office of for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties 
of the Department of Homeland Security prior 
to release outside the Department to ensure 
each such assessment complies with applicable 
law and protects individuals’ privacy, civil 
rights, and civil liberties, and 
(B) may be informed by existing products, 
as appropriate. 
(4) FORM.—Each terrorism threat assessment 
under paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassi-
fied form, but may include a classified annex only 
for the protection of intelligence sources and meth-
ods relating to the matters contained in such assess-
ment. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall 
post on a publicly available website of the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security the unclassified portion 
of each such assessment. 
(5) BRIEFING.—Not later than 30 days after 
the submission of each terrorism threat assessment 
under paragraph (1), the Secretary of Homeland Se-
curity shall brief the appropriate congressional com-
mittees regarding each such assessment. The head 
of any other relevant Federal department or agency 
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shall join the Secretary for any such briefing if any 
such committee, in consultation with the Secretary, 
determines such is appropriate. 
(6) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘appropriate 
congressional committees’’ means the Committee on 
Homeland Security and the Permanent Select Com-
mittee on Intelligence of the House of Representa-
tives and the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs and the Select Committee on 
Intelligence of the Senate. 
(b) INFORMATION
SHARING.—The Secretary of 
Homeland Security shall review information relating to 
terrorism threats to the United States posed by terrorist 
organizations utilizing foreign cloud-based mobile or desk-
top messaging applications that is gathered by State and 
local fusion centers and the National Network of Fusion 
Centers, and incorporate such information, as appropriate, 
into the Department of Homeland Security’s own informa-
tion relating to such. The Secretary shall ensure the dis-
semination to State and local fusion centers and the Na-
tional Network of Fusion Centers of such information. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) FOREIGN CLOUD-BASED MOBILE OR DESK-
TOP MESSAGING APPLICATIONS.— 
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(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘foreign 
cloud-based mobile or desktop messaging appli-
cations’’ includes any application specified in 
subparagraph (B) that has a connection, rela-
tionship, or other association with or to any of 
the following: 
(i) A foreign adversary (as such term 
is defined in section 7.2 of subpart A of 
part 7 of subtitle A of title 15, Code of 
Federal Regulations). 
(ii) A person owned by, controlled by, 
or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of 
a foreign adversary. 
(iii) A terrorist organization. 
(B) APPLICATIONS SPECIFIED.—An appli-
cation specified in this subparagraph includes 
the following: 
(i) An application owned or operated, 
in whole or in part, by ByteDance. 
(ii) Tamtam. 
(iii) Telegram. 
(iv) Vkontakte. 
(v) WeChat. 
(vi) Weibo. 
(vii) RedNote. 
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