WASHINGTON—On Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and skeptic of broad government surveillance, objected to a bill that would have required social media and online sites like Google, Yahoo, Twitter, and Facebook to alert federal authorities of any terrorist activity.
The proposal, by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), had been tucked into a broader bill authorizing intelligence programs throughout the 2016 budget year and became the subject of several private meetings on Capitol Hill between congressional staff and industry officials.
In a statement submitted into the Congressional Record, Wyden said the Senate had been asked on Tuesday to approve the intelligence authorization bill by unanimous consent. Doing so would bypass any debate. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) confirmed that leadership had hoped to pass the bill before the August recess, but that not all senators were on board.
Wyden said he would insist on a debate because of “very valid concerns” made by the technology industry.
“Internet companies should not be subject to broad requirements to police the speech of their users,” Wyden said in the statement.
