Biden on Tech

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D-DE) will be vying for the White House in a very different tech climate than what he experienced in the Obama era. In the short time since Biden was in office, tech phobia has replaced tech euphoria, and the networks once viewed as connectors of the world are now among its most divisive forces. When Biden became vice president in 2009, the companies that now represent “big tech” were only a few years removed from being scrappy startups, and several of them quickly became chummy with the Obama White House. These days, the industry faces a much frostier Washington reception. So where will Biden come down on tech policy? It remains to be seen what Biden’s track record and present support mean for his position on tech and telecom issues. Here’s what we know.

Biden was once an advocate for cracking down on online piracy of movies, music, and books. In 2015, as he toyed with a possible presidential run, that stance made Biden popular among Hollywood leaders and major media industry organizations like the Motion Picture Association of America. But the cozy relationship put him at odds with internet players who worried that measures aimed at beefing up digital IP protections would stifle free speech online and punish tech platforms. During the 2018 midterm election cycle, Biden’s PAC, American Possibilities, counted among its contributors former Facebook president and Napster co-founder Sean Parker, as well as Hollywood producers Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Comcast executive David Cohen is behind the big Biden fundraiser expected to take place in Philadelphia.