Social media giants can expect more government regulation in the brand new yr.
TikTok and other tech corporations were targeted by Congress last yr, and in response to Representative Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), that is expected to proceed into 2023.
Gallagher compared TikTok to “digital fentanyl” on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, adding that he considered the app dangerous.
“It is very addictive and destructive,” he said. “We’re seeing worrying data concerning the disruptive impact of constant social media use, especially on young men and girls here in America.”
Last month, Congress passed a bipartisan bill banning using TikTok on government devices amid concerns that data obtained by the favored social media app could fall into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.
TikTok, which attracts greater than a billion views a month, has repeatedly said that its US user data will not be positioned in China, although those assurances have done little to quell the concerns.
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who was also on Meet the Press, said she thinks most individuals do not understand how far behind the US is with regards to social media regulation.
“It’s like we’re back in 1965, we haven’t got seat belt laws yet,” she said, adding that social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube operate using similar algorithms and regulators should strive to to more transparency about how they work as a primary step.
In 2021, Haugen leaked a group of internal Facebook documents to the Wall Street Journal, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Congress. This led to the Journal publishing a multi-part series that examined Facebook’s exceptions for high-profile users, the impact on youth, the consequences of the 2018 algorithm changes, vulnerabilities in responding to human trafficking and drug cartels, and vaccine misinformation, amongst others.
Last yr, Congress didn’t pass a number of the most aggressive anti-technology laws, including antitrust laws intended to undermine the profitability of Google and Apple’s app stores and ease their restrictions on developers, and up to date sweeping measures to guard children online.
While Congress made some progress last yr toward a compromise bill on national privacy standardsthere continues to be loads of work to be done on how you can protect consumer data.
Klobuchar told Meet the Press that while there may be bipartisan support for such laws, the tech lobby is so powerful that bills with “strong, bipartisan support” could disintegrate “inside 24 hours.”
“We’re behind,” she said. “It is time for 2023, let or not it’s our resolution to finally pass considered one of these laws.”