The Senate Intelligence Committee approved a bill that would provide legal protection to social media networks that report posts possibly linked with terrorist activity, Reuters reported. The legislation would not require reporting, nor would it penalize those who did not report such content, but it would legally protect those who shared the information with the government.
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other popular social media services would be encouraged by the legislation to report to the government any posts talking about “explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction,” according to bill text.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on July 14, bill sponsor Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said social media companies should be working more closely with the government to fight terrorist organizations led by violent militants and that such cooperation aligns with their principles anyway.
"Twitter, FB and YouTube all, as I understand it, remove content on their sites that come to their attention if it violates their terms of service, including terrorism," Feinstein said.
In a statement, Facebook Head of Policy Management Monika Bickert said the company shares the government's goal of keeping terrorist content off its site.
"Our policies on this are crystal clear: We do not permit terrorist groups to use Facebook, and people are not allowed to promote or support these groups on Facebook. We remove this terrorist content as soon as we become aware of it," she said.
When the Senate will vote on the bill is not yet known.
