Platforms

Republican senators are alleging that the Twitter histories of Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] and Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya, which include jabs at Fox News and

As Meta, the multinational corporation formerly known as Facebook, and other technology companies prepare for their versions of the coming “metaverse,” it would be wise to figure out ahead of time the rules to be applied inside these virtual worlds. Too often, technology companies innovate first and then figure out the ethical conundrums, regulatory challenges and governance fixes, when it can be too late. Terms of service from Big Tech do not often protect basic human rights.

Sen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep Yvette Clarke (D-NY) introduced the Consumer Online Payment Transparency and Integrity Act (S.3298), or Consumer OPT-IN Act, to protect consumers from online free trial scams and deceptive marketing tactics. To do this, the Consumer OPT-In Act will:

Federal Judge Robert Pitman blocked a Texas law (HB 20) that would allow any state resident banned from a social media platform for their 

The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a legislative hearing on four bills:

The CEOs of 13 large European telecommunications companies called on tech giants—presumably including Netflix and other big US companies—to pay for a portion of the Internet service providers' network upgrade costs.

The lead committee in the European Parliament writing new tech rules passed measures that could impact major US and European tech companies. Lawmakers voted to approve measures in the draft Digital Markets Act that could mean: 

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general announced it is investigating how Instagram attracts and affects young people, amping up the pressure on parent company Meta Platforms over potential harms to its users.

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: