Platforms

President Donald Trump’s technology adviser Abigail Slater suggested that Congress should consider changes to a little-known provision of the Communications Decency Act called Section 230. Section 230 has a simple, sensible goal: to free internet companies from the responsibilities of traditional publishers.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced a data privacy bill that would explicitly bar platforms like Facebook and Google from serving targeted ads that discriminate against protected groups, particularly by race, sexual orientation or gender. The DATA Privacy Act would empower the Federal Trade Commission to put in place specific definitions for what is considered discriminatory behavior in targeted ad and data practices. It would also extend the FTC’s civil penalty authority for violations of those rules, alongside broader protections on user data.

The operators of the video social networking app Musical.ly, now known as TikTok, have agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company illegally collected personal information from children. This is the largest civil penalty ever obtained by the Commission in a children’s privacy case. The Musical.ly app allowed users to create short videos lip-syncing to music and share those videos with other users.

The report calls for a tax on targeted online advertising to respond to the crisis in journalism and fund diverse, local, independent and non-commercial news and information. The report proposes a series of proposals to levy a small tax on ads sold by highly profitable companies like Facebook and Google.

Consumer advocates are furious that the Senate Commerce Committee's initial witness list for its upcoming hearing on data privacy consists entirely of industry-backed groups. The panel, led by Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS), announced a slate of witnesses headlined by representatives from prominent tech trade groups. A Senate staffer familiar with the committee described the Feb. 27 session as a starting point on privacy discussions that will lay the groundwork for future hearings. But privacy advocates said the snub reflected a lack of regard for consumers.

A wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already underway on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity. A Politico review of recent data extracted from Twitter and from other platforms, as well as interviews with data scientists and digital campaign strategists, suggests that the goal of the coordinated barrage appears to be undermining the nascent candidacies through the dissemination of memes, hashtags, misinformation and distortions of their positions.

Democrats on Capitol Hill say they are intrigued by a proposal from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) for users to “share in the wealth that is created from their data” — though they would like to hear more details. Gov.

Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wasted no time taking aim at e-commerce giant Amazon over its economic practices after announcing his 2020 presidential bid — marking an early campaign appearance for the senator's long-standing critiques of tech titans. Sen. Sanders criticized the company over how it conducted its second headquarters search and for not paying any federal income taxes for 2018.

Nearly a year after announcing an investigation into the incident, the Federal Trade Commission is negotiating with Facebook over a fine that could range into the billions of dollars.

British Members of Parliament have called for a regulator to police content on social media sites, financed by a new levy on tech companies, and an inquiry into the effect of disinformation on past electoral contests. Concluding an 18-month long investigation into “fake news”, disinformation and political campaigns, the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee also accused Facebook of “intentionally and knowingly” violating data privacy laws and said it should be the subject of a probe by the competition and data watchdogs.