Platforms

EU lawmakers have reached a breakthrough on how to target tech companies, including Apple and Google, as part of moves by Brussels to curb anti-competitive practices in the digital economy. The European Parliament’s main political parties agreed to a deal that would apply to companies with a market capitalisation of at least €80 billion and offering at least one internet service, such as online search. It means the rules would draw more companies than thought into the EU’s planned Digital Markets Act (DMA), a wide-ranging effort to rein in Big Tech.

Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) reintroduced the Online Privacy Act, legislation that creates user data rights, places limitations and obligations on companies collecting and using user data, and establishes the Digital Privacy Agency (DPA) to enforce privacy laws. The updated legislation includes several improved provisions and additional privacy protections, including adding an Office of Civil Rights in the DPA and authorizing state privacy regulators to enforce the legislation alongside state attorneys general. Major provisions of the Online Privacy Act include:

Congratulations are due to Congress and President Biden's team for the passage of the landmark infrastructure bill. Now it is time to probe where the execution might need additional help. After all, anything that makes it through a politically complex process is far from ideal — the outcome is a compromise that never solves the whole problem. Consider the $65 billion allocated for broadband internet that had rare bipartisan support and has one of the biggest gaps to close.

The Senate confirmed Jonathan Kanter as the Justice Department’s top antitrust official, adding a pro-enforcement lawyer to a Biden-administration team that has already been aggressive in addressing what it sees as threats to competition. Kanter, 48, was confirmed on a bipartisan 68-29 vote, as Democrats and some Republicans believe antitrust enforcers should be doing more to protect competition in the marketplace, including in technology sector, agriculture and healthcare. Mr. Kanter has seen two decades of antitrust battles from several vantage points.

In the US, we need better internet. We need oversight over Big Tech, ISPs, and other large companies. We need the federal agencies with the powers to advance competition, protect privacy, and empower consumers to be fully staffed and working. New infrastructure legislation aimed at ending the digital divide gives new responsibilities to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and Congress relies on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to reign in Big Tech and others.

Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote a letter to Snap CEO Evan Spiegel urging him to release internal data pertaining to the company's effect on children and teens. Blumenthal requested the following by November 24, 2021:

Chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced bipartisan legislation to make it more difficult for dominant online platforms to make acquisitions that harm competition and eliminate consumer choice. The Platform Competition and Opportunity Act will halt further harmful consolidation by:

The Federal Trade Commission has outlined a far-reaching vision for protecting consumers’ privacy online, but the plan faces numerous challenges.

Sen Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced the Digital Accountability and Transparency to Advance (DATA) Privacy Act to strengthen data privacy protections for American consumers. The legislation would: