Big Tech

Hawley Bill to Allow Parents to Sue Big Tech for Harm to Children

Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced new legislation to make social media companies liable for bodily or mental harm their products cause to children. Senator Hawley’s bill would close the Section 230 loophole protecting these companies and allow parents to sue and obtain damages from social media companies wholly or partly responsible for harm to users under 16. Senator Hawley said, “Facebook has long had evidence of the harmful effects their products have on children but covered...

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Hawley Grills Facebook on Instagram’s Harms, Negative Effects on Teens

During today’s Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee hearing, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) grilled Steve Satterfield, Facebook’s Vice President of Privacy & Public Policy, about the safety of platforms like Instagram and Facebook for teenage users. Satterfield repeatedly declined to provide clarity on internal research from Facebook showing the negative effects their services have on users.

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Senator Hawley Introduces the Bust Up Big Tech Act

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the Bust Up Big Tech Act, new legislation to restore accountability and competition to Big Tech. Senator Hawley’s bill would break up Big Tech companies seeking to dominate multiple industries simultaneously, by banning companies like Amazon from marketing their own retail goods alongside those of other sellers or providing online hosting or cloud services to an ever-growing swath of the internet—including competitors. The law would also empower the FTC to monitor compliance and strengthen antitrust enforcement.

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Hawley, Colleagues Call for Judiciary Hearing on Obama-Biden FTC’s Sweetheart Deal with Google

U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) sent letters to Federal Trade Commission Acting Chair (FTC) Rebecca Slaughter and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) calling for a public Judiciary Hearing into recent revelations that the Obama FTC failed to enforce antitrust law in an 2011 investigation of Google and instead let the company off with a slap on the wrist. The senators call for testimony from Google executives and relevant FTC officials, including the former Commissioners who now represent big tech firms.

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Hawley Blasts Wall Street, Hedge Funds Over Robinhood Scandal

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) blasted big banks and hedge funds over their role in freezing out day traders and small investors from trading Robinhood stock. Senator Hawley said Wall Street has deemed itself too big to fail but is rigging the system against anyone else.

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Hawley Calls to Unwind Facebook Mergers with Instagram, WhatsApp

Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) voiced his support for the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) announcement that it will launch an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook to seek the divestiture of Instagram and WhatsApp from the powerful tech giant. This comes as 46 state attorneys general announced today that they are launching a similar lawsuit of their own. This is a necessity. The @instagram and WhatsApp mergers with @Facebook were anti-competitive, they were meant to be anti-competitive,...

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