There\u2019s a new bipartisan bill to establish a new federal agency tasked with regulating online platforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The bill, sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), would create a new agency called the Digital Consumer Protection Commission that would be empowered to go after giant tech firms for a slew of anti-competitive behaviors and failing to protect consumer privacy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cFor years I have been trying to find ways to empower consumers against Big Tech,\u201d\u00a0Graham said in a statement Thursday. \u201cI have heard too many stories from families who feel helpless in the face of Big Tech. Stories about children being bullied to the point of committing suicide. Human trafficking. Exploitation of minors. All the while the social media platforms look the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Specifically, the commission would ban the largest tech companies like Amazon, Meta, and Google from providing favorable treatment to their own products on their platforms to those of their competitors, otherwise called \u201cself-preferencing.\u201d Along with the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department, it would also be allowed to authorize merger proposals and review past ones retroactively.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
On the privacy front, the agency would guarantee users the right to know when companies collect their data. It would also limit targeted advertising, restricting it to data collected from user activity on-platform and leaving out information from outside services.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cAn independent regulatory commission tasked with challenging the monopolistic power of Big Tech companies will not only provide the additional oversight needed to keep the industry in check, but also complement the work of our existing regulatory bodies,\u201d Nicole Gill, Accountable Tech executive director and co-founder, said in a statement to The Verge<\/em> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The bill also targets national security risks posed by foreign ownership of tech platforms, like TikTok and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance. If approved, the agency would require platforms like TikTok to sell their companies to an American owner or at least have a US-based subsidiary.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Warren\u2019s helped start new agencies before. Following the 2008 financial crisis, she championed the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agency was later authorized by the Dodd-Frank Act, which implemented an array of Wall Street reforms in 2010.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Last fall, Graham first mentioned that he was working on a bill to install a \u201cregulatory environment with teeth\u201d to police social media companies. Following OpenAI CEO Sam Altman\u2019s appearance<\/a> before Congress in May, lawmakers like Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) have proposed bills to create a new agency<\/a> to regulate artificial intelligence. Bennet previously backed an agency similar to the one proposed by Graham and Warren.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n At this point, the senators don\u2019t have any other co-sponsors on the bill, so they\u2019ll need to win over more lawmakers and push for a hearing before it has a chance to pass.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cFor too long, giant tech companies have exploited consumers\u2019 data, invaded Americans\u2019 privacy, threatened our national security, and stomped out competition in our economy,\u201d Warren said in a statement Thursday. \u201cThis bipartisan bill would create a new tech regulator and it makes clear that reining in Big Tech platforms is a top priority on both sides of the aisle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n