Warren, Graham partner in proposing new agency to regulate tech giants

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are teaming up on legislation to create a new agency that would have the power to regulate tech giants.

The bipartisan Digital Consumer Protection Commission Act, unveiled Thursday, would create an agency charged with oversight of Meta, Google, Amazon and other large tech companies and seek to promote industry competition and consumer privacy online.

The commission would work alongside the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ), the agencies that currently operate as antitrust enforcers, according to the bill.

The legislation would also set regulations in place requiring “dominant platforms” to be licensed and allow for licenses to be removed for repeated anticompetitive and anti-consumer conduct violations.

The bill is the latest effort from Congress to rein in the power of tech giants.


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Last year, two bipartisan antitrust reform bills advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee — the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and the Open App Markets Act — but failed to make it to the floor for a vote. Companion bills that advanced out of the House Judiciary Committee also failed to advance to a full floor vote. 

Warren and Graham’s proposal seeks to target tech regulation more broadly by creating a commission specifically tasked with oversight of the booming industry.

The legislation would also grant the new commission with oversight over how to respond to emerging risks, including from artificial intelligence (AI) — an area where lawmakers and regulators have been scrambling to understand and put rules in place.

“Enough is enough. It’s time to rein in Big Tech. And we can’t do it with a law that only nibbles around the edges of the problem,” the senators wrote in a joint op-ed published in The New York Times on Thursday. 

“Piecemeal efforts to stop abusive and dangerous practices have failed. Congress is too slow, it lacks the tech expertise, and the army of Big Tech lobbyists can pick off individual efforts easier than shooting fish in a barrel. Meaningful change — the change worth engaging every member of Congress to fight for — is structural,” they added. 

Lawmakers have long faced an uphill climb when pursuing tech reforms, with the industry launching massive lobbying campaigns targeting congressional legislation.

At the same time, Republicans leading the House have focused their tech agenda on content moderation battles rather than advancing bills aimed at reining in the market power of Big Tech.

For Warren, her proposal with Graham is the second time the progressive firebrand has recently joined forces with a colleague across the aisle. Last month, Warren joined Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) to put forward a bill that targets failed bank executives with harsher penalties.

Meghan McCain Unleashes On Biden, Fauci, And Amazon Over Hypocrisy – ‘I Was Lied To’

On Friday’s episode of “The View,” Meghan McCain unloaded on Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Amazon for their hypocrisy when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic.

McCain Goes Off 

McCain kicked off her rant by blasting Fauci for previously telling Americans that masks “didn’t work” in an effort to preserve them for first responders during a time when they were in short supply.

“Look, I think the great horror of living in America right now is the absolute, complete and total breakdown of trust in our institutions,” McCain said, adding that she had been pregnant when Fauci said this and gave her masks away because of him.

“Just say to me, ‘First responders need them more than average American. Please donate them for the good of your heart.’ I would have done the same thing, but I was lied to,” she added.

Related: Meghan McCain Demands Ivanka And Jared ‘Be Held Accountable’ After Capitol Riots

McCain went on to call out Biden and his family for not wearing masks on federal property immediately after he signed an executive order mandating that masks had to be worn there.

“So again, I think the ‘Rules for thee, but not for me’ that have been going on for a long time in the Trump Administration and now you’re seeing with President Biden, I was really disappointed he wasn’t wearing a mask,” she said.

McCain Doubles Down

Not stopping there, McCain went after Amazon for suddenly volunteering to help with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout after Donald Trump left office.

“That seems political as well,” she said. “So why does Jeff Bezos all of a sudden want to help with vaccine distribution, but he didn’t during the Trump Administration?”

“There is a lot of blame to go around everywhere,” McCain concluded. “Yes, President Trump was integral in spreading false information, but I’m not about to give Dr. Fauci a profile in courage award this morning.”

Related: Meghan McCain Blasts Capitol Rioters As ‘Domestic Terrorists’ Who Should Be Sent To Guantanamo

McCain hits the nail on the head here, as the hypocrisy from the left has been truly staggering on these issues.

This piece was written by James Samson on January 24, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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The post Meghan McCain Unleashes On Biden, Fauci, And Amazon Over Hypocrisy – ‘I Was Lied To’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Devin Nunes On Big Tech Parler Ban: ‘There Should Be A Racketeering Investigation’

Republicans Congressman Devin Nunes, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that the Justice Department should launch an investigation into tech companies’ efforts to remove Parler from their platforms.

Nunes made his comments on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

RELATED: AOC Calls For Trump To Be Impeached – ‘We Came Close To Half Of The House Nearly Dying’

Nunes On Parler Ban: ‘It’s Far Worse Than What I Could Even Imagine’

“Well, Maria, when I wrote that book, I was hoping to warn Americans so that they would vote right and that maybe this wouldn’t happen and this could be prevented,” Nunes told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.

Nunes said the move by Big Tech violated antitrust laws, civil rights and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

“Unfortunately, it’s far worse than what I could even imagine,” Nunes said. “The effect of this is that there is no longer a free and open social media company or site for any American to get on any longer, because these big companies, Apple, Amazon, Google, they have just destroyed a — what was likely — Parler is likely a billion-dollar company.”

“Poof, it’s gone,” he added.

‘This Is Clearly A Violation Of Antitrust’

Nunes then stressed that conservatives need to have the same social media abilities that non-conservatives enjoys.

“But it’s more than just the financial aspect to that,” Nunes explained. “Republicans have no way to communicate.”

“If — and it doesn’t even matter if you’re a Republican or conservative,” he continued.

“If you don’t want to be regulated by left-wingers that are at Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, where you get shadowbanned, nobody gets to see you — nobody gets to see you, they get to decide what’s violent or not violent, it’s preposterous,” Nunes said.

Nunes then cited the violation of antitrust laws.

“So, I don’t know where the hell the Department of Justice is at right now or the FBI,” Nunes said. “This is clearly a violation of antitrust, civil rights, the RICO statute.”

RELATED: GOP Sen. Ben Sasse Will Consider Impeachment, Ilhan Omar Predicts President Trump WILL Be Removed

Nunes Denounces ‘Attack’ On Parler And Conservatives Being Able To Operate On Social Media

“There should be a racketeering investigation on all the people that coordinated this attack on not only a company but on all of those like us, like me, like you, Maria. I have 3 million followers on Parler,” he added.

“Tonight, I will no longer be able to communicate with those people,” Nunes lamented. “And they’re Americans.”

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