Major U.S. social media companies are seeking approval to release data about government surveillance requests, and legislators in August introduced bills that would increase transparency and oversight in the wake of news reports making public a government surveillance program called PRISM.

Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in mid-June individually petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) for approval to release aggregate statistics on surveillance orders that the companies have received from the government. Google claimed its business and reputation had been harmed by "false and misleading" media reports about their participation in PRISM.

The FISC several times granted the Department of Justice an extension to respond to Microsoft's motion to allow the company to release aggregate data on surveillance orders affecting its customers. Most recently, the FISC ruled Aug. 13 that the DOJ has until Aug. 20 to weigh in.

Many more social media companies have contacted the administration directly about publishing surveillance request data. Online companies and public interest groups, including Google, Microsoft, Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc., sent a letter July 18 to key U.S. government officials seeking permission to provide more transparency about national security requests.

Twitter released its third transparency report July 31; the company said it had "joined forces with industry peers … to insist that the United States government allow for increased transparency into these secret orders," but that it was not yet allowed to release the data.

This month legislators in the House introduced a bill that would allow social media companies to release data on national security surveillance requests. The bipartisan H.R. 3035, introduced Aug. 2, would allow communications providers to publish data on the government's surveillance requests. S. 1452, introduced by Senate Democrats Aug. 1, would provide for "enhanced public reporting" of surveillance requests under FISA.

According to a fact sheet from the administration, PRISM operates under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and facilitates the targeted acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning foreign targets located outside the United States.

President Obama announced Aug. 9 that his administration will take steps to assuage privacy concerns surrounding PRISM and other controversial government surveillance programs. For example, the president said he would work with Congress to "make sure civil liberties concerns have an independent voice in appropriate cases by ensuring that the government's position is challenged by an adversary."