Senate Commerce to Examine Privacy Proposals at Post-Thanksgiving Hearing
The Senate Commerce Committee will consider multiple privacy proposals at a hearing expected after Thanksgiving, Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters this week. Wicker continues to negotiate with ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., on one: “I think we’re close. We’re working hard.” Divulging the exact proposals to be considered at the hearing would be “a bridge too far,” he said.
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A bipartisan Commerce group introduced legislation Thursday to allow platform users to filter social media content from algorithm influence. Introduced by Sens. John Thune, R-S.D.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Mark Warner, D-Va., the Filter Bubble Transparency Act would require platforms that “collect data from more than one million users and gross more than $50 million per year” to let users “view content that has not been curated as a result of a secret algorithm.”
A couple of bills could be introduced before the hearing, a Moran aide said. Asked whether Moran and Blumenthal continue to negotiate a stand-alone privacy bill, Blumenthal told us they may want to learn more at the session.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told us he will continue rallying support for his data privacy bill (see 1812120036) before the hearing. He told reporters to expect his draft proposal on Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 1906140051) within “months.” He described it as large-scale reform, not a carve-out like 2018's anti-sex trafficking law. That social media companies can massively profit from hosting false and misleading content without moderating is “beyond belief,” Schatz said. He said oppressive regimes use content moderation tactics for unacceptable purposes, like eliminating political dissent, but that doesn’t excuse platforms for allowing “garbage and lies.”
Establishing a connection between antitrust and 230 has been the biggest jurisdictional win for the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., told us. Big tech has used the section to enhance anticompetitive practices, he said. He commended a proposal from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to direct the FTC (see 1906190047) to certify social media platforms are politically neutral to earn immunity.
Gaetz and other House Judiciary Republicans said they share enthusiasm with Democrats for the panel’s tech antitrust investigation (see 1910180045). Gaetz said House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., who helped lead the investigation, largely has the right instincts.
Republicans are as enthusiastic as Democrats about the review “for different reasons,” said Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo. Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., noted the hearings on tech competition haven’t reached a predetermined conclusion. Cicilline has been fair, he said. Cline noted “a respect for the marketplace on the part of Republicans that might not be as present on the other side, but the respect for antitrust is bipartisan.”
Hawley drew attention to his hearing next week on big tech, concerning data security and security threats from China (see 1910290042). He raised issues about companies based in the U.S. storing data in China and China-backed social media companies like TikTok collecting data about Americans.