Big Tech

Today during a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) grilled Google’s vice president for government affairs and public policy, Karan Bhatia, on a range of subjects including Google’s work on censored search engines in China, YouTube’s curation of content for pedophiles, and whether Google would commit to an independent third-party audit of its content moderation practices.

Today U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to use its section 6(b) authority to investigate how major tech companies curate content due to the “enormous influence” these companies hold over speech and the “alarming and endless” possibilities for abuse.

Senator Hawley said, “And that’s why we need to step up now, and I think we need to say to them, here’s the deal – Google, Facebook Twitter, they’ve gotten these special deals from government. They’ve gotten a special giveaway from government. They’re treated unlike anybody else. If they want to keep their special deal, here’s the bargain: they have to quit discriminating against conservatives. You agree with that? No more. No more discrimination. It’s that simple. That’s all were asking for.”

Today in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing called Protecting Innocence in a Digital World, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called out YouTube for prioritizing ad revenue over children’s safety. Senator Hawley discussed the legislation he introduced to ban video-hosting websites like YouTube from automatically recommending videos of children. Hawley’s legislation followed The New York Times reporting that YouTube’s algorithm automatically curates home videos of children for pedophiles. “This...

“When a big tech company says its product is free, consumers are the ones being sold. These ‘free’ products track everything we do so tech companies can sell our information to the highest bidder and use it to target us with creepy ads,” said Sen. Hawley. “Even worse, tech companies do their best to hide how much consumer data is worth and to whom it is sold. This bipartisan legislation gives consumers control of their data and will show them how much these ‘free’ services actually cost.”

Sen. Hawley’s legislation removes the immunity big tech companies receive under Section 230 unless they submit to an external audit that proves by clear and convincing evidence that their algorithms and content-removal practices are politically neutral. Sen. Hawley’s legislation does not apply to small and medium-sized tech companies. “With Section 230, tech companies get a sweetheart deal that no other industry enjoys: complete exemption from traditional publisher liability in exchange for providing a forum free of political censorship,” said Sen. Hawley. “Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, big tech has failed to hold up its end of the bargain.

“Every parent in America should be appalled that YouTube is pushing videos of their children to pedophiles. It’s equally outrageous that YouTube refuses to take the most effective step necessary to fix the issue. I’m proud to announce this legislation to force YouTube to do the right thing and place children’s safety over profits and pedophiles.”

As Apple convenes its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook asking him to voluntarily provide Apple customers with a “Do Not Track” option. Senator Hawley recently introduced the Do Not Track Act, which would create a system similar to the “Do Not Call” list, but for data tracking.

“I am frankly shocked by Facebook’s response. I thought they’d swear off the creepier possibilities I raised. But instead, they doubled down,” said Senator Hawley. “If you share a link in encrypted messenger with a friend who clicks it, Facebook reserves the right to use cookies to figure out what that link was and what you two might have been discussing in your encrypted chat. If you send a roommate your rent money in encrypted messenger, Facebook reserves the right to use the payment metadata to figure out you might live together. And they call this ‘encrypted’ private messaging.”

“Only the addiction economy could produce a business model that relies on placing a casino in the hands of every child in America with the goal of getting them desperately hooked. I’m proud to introduce this landmark, bipartisan legislation to end to these exploitative practices.”