How Congress plans to pressure Big Tech for Fall 2019

How lawmakers plan to keep the pressure on Big Tech heading into Fall 2019. 

1. Pushing a national privacy law. Lawmakers have yet to reach a consensus despite optimism that 2019 would be the year Congress finally got its act together to pass a bill to protect consumers' date. Lawmakers have just a few months left to pass a federal privacy bill before CA's sweeping state privacy law takes effect in 2020. There are several of privacy bills floating on both sides of the aisle, but few proposals have gained traction.
2. Intensifying antitrust scrutiny through hearings in both chambers. There’s a push for lawmakers to complete a broad investigation of competition in the tech industry before the 2020 race heats up, but don’t hold your breath for any actual legislation to pass until after the election. It's likely Congress will move slowly on antitrust, but lawmakers could play a key role in oversight of the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, which have opened antitrust investigations into Silicon Valley companies.
3. Scrutinizing Section 230, tech's prized legal shield that grants companies broad immunity for content third parties post on their platforms. But expect partisan divisions to persist over why it needs to change.