Big Tech Comes Under Bipartisan Scrutiny Nationwide
From the New York Sun:
Brandon Pugh, Resident Senior Fellow at the R Street Institute, said Senator Rubio’s bill has a greater likelihood of being adopted than the Texas legislation aimed at banning minors from using social platforms.
“[Senator Rubio] is taking a more holistic approach to these issues,” Mr. Pugh told the Sun. “From what I’ve seen, the Texas legislation does not have much traction.”
Senator Rubio and two members of the House — one Democrat and one Republican — said that the goal of the bill is to protect children’s privacy and combat the influence of the People’s Republic of China. “This isn’t about creative videos – this is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children,” they said in a summary of the legislation.
State governments have also taken aim at TikTok. Seven states, ranging from Maryland to Texas, have banned the use of the video platform from state-owned cell phones, laptops, and tablets. Indiana went so far as the sue the company this week, claiming it is intentionally misleading its predominately teenage users.
“There may be no greater threat to our personal [cybersecurity] safety” than TikTok, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said in a statement announcing his state’s ban.
Utah’s governor, Spencer Cox, recently signed an executive order doing the same. “We must protect Utahns and make sure that the people of Utah can trust the state’s security systems,” Mr. Cox said.
While all of the legislative actions have different stated goals, they have the same goal — curbing the power of Silicon Valley over Americans’ daily lives. It has become a favorite new activity, regardless of party.
“There is a real hunger for change, and you could see this advance in the 118th Congress,” Mr. Pugh said.
