Big Tech

Social media consumers are getting wise to the joke that when the product is free, they’re the ones being sold. But despite the growing threat of consumer exploitation, Washington still shrinks from confronting our social media giants. Why? Because the social giants have convinced the chattering class that America simply can’t do without them. Confront the industry, we’re told, and you might accidentally kill it — and with it, all the innovation it has (supposedly) brought to our society.

“Big tech companies collect incredible amounts of deeply personal, private data from people without giving them the option to meaningfully consent. They have gotten incredibly rich by employing creepy surveillance tactics on their users, but too often the extent of this data extraction is only known after a tech company irresponsibly handles the data and leaks it all over the internet. The American people didn’t sign up for this, so I’m introducing this legislation to finally give them control over their personal information online.”

You claim your goal is to limit Facebook’s window into users’ lives, but your future profits demand that you expand that window,” Hawley wrote. “The American people deserve to know how you plan to do that before they sign on to your new vision of supposedly private social engagement.”

Last night on “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” Martha and guest Geraldo Rivera discussed the “creepiness” of big tech’s data collection and the addiction it has caused within society. In the clip, Martha mentions her recent conversation with Senator Hawley on these issues.

In a bipartisan effort, Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) sent a letter today calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate new evidence of Amazon violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) with its Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition, a digital assistant targeted to children.

“Social media and video games prey on user addiction, siphoning our kids’ attention from the real world and extracting profits from fostering compulsive habits. No matter this business model’s advantages to the tech industry, one thing is clear: there is no excuse for exploiting children through such practices. When a game is designed for kids, game developers shouldn’t be allowed to monetize addiction. And when kids play games designed for adults, they should be walled off from compulsive microtransactions. Game developers who knowingly exploit children should face legal consequences.”

Following reports that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is negotiating penalties for Facebook’s breach of its consent order, U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to FTC Chairman Joseph Simons to urge the FTC “to act swiftly to conclude its investigation of Facebook and to move to compel sweeping changes to end the social network’s pattern of misuse and abuse of personal data.”

Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey this morning, calling on him to conduct a third-party audit of his platform’s suspension policies. Sen. Hawley’s letter was prompted by Twitter’s recent suspension of the account affiliated with the pro-life film, Unplanned, on its opening weekend. 

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, Senator Josh Hawley led a heated back and forth with a Google representative over the company’s tracking and data collection. Senator Hawley scrutinized Google’s lack of transparency around the information it collects when Android users turn location services off, highlighting the fact they continue to gather customers’ valuable, personal information even when a phone is not in use.

“Big tech companies know too much about our kids, and even as parents, we know too little about what they are doing with our kids’ personal data. It’s time to hold them accountable. Congress needs to get serious about keeping our children’s information safe, and it begins with safeguarding their digital footprint online.”