The issue of regulating the US tech giants took center stage during the 2022 US election. As the Biden administration’s first year in office draws to a close, elected Democrats are calling on the US president to invest more in the bills being drafted in Congress, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The dreaded deadline of midterms
Several bills, six or more, are under discussion in the US Congress. Bipartisan, they are worn by representatives of Republicans as well as Democrats. The ideological differences remain, however. Where Democrats want strict measures, Republicans are more flexible and above all committed to defending maximum freedom of expression on platforms.
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Time is running out for Democrats. The US midterm elections, the midterms, could tip the House of Representatives and the Senate to the Republican side in November 2022. To impose its vision, the Democratic Congress must step up.
The laws, some still under development, touch on subjects as varied as online privacy, the safety of children on the networks, transparency on data collection, the responsibility of platforms for the content published by them. users and abuse of dominant position by large tech companies.
Richard Blumenthal, elected Democrat at the head of the Senate consumer protection committee, regrets ” So far, the White House has not been a very active presence “.
Joe Biden has his head elsewhere
The Biden administration focused in 2021 on two major bills, a $ 1.2 trillion investment in infrastructure and “Build Back Better,” a law that provides $ 2 trillion for education, health and social welfare. weather. Joe Biden had to fight with Congress on both texts. If the first was ratified in difficulty on November 15, the second has been blocked since the end of December by the centrist Democratic senator Joe Manchin.
Concerns that kept Joe Biden away from questions relating to the tech giants. A senior White House official, however, assured the Wall Street Journal that the President remained in support of these measures. The US media, however, claims that the administration is currently divided between supporters of a strict line with Tech and those fearing the impact of future laws on the US economy during a pandemic.
Joe Biden’s support in 2022 promises to be more necessary than ever. Amy Klobuchar, Democratic senator, can count on a judicial commission to move, in early 2022, a step to a first proposal: to prevent technology companies from giving preference to their own products and services on their platforms. The commission in charge of trade is buried under the projects, privacy, child safety, platform responsibilities, transparency of algorithms … A traffic jam such that the prospect of a stalemate is possible.
The United States lagging behind
Senator Amy Klobuchar expects a tough battle with lobbyists in Silicon Valley, very hostile and active against the various bills. Realistically, she believes that not all the proposals will pass ” But we have to start moving forward “. She, too, hopes that Joe Biden must make the issue a priority for the year 2022.
With the DMA and the DSA, the European Union is entering the final phase of adopting its own directives on the regulation of tech giants. China, in its own authoritarian style, adopts regulations on the same themes. Next, Joe Biden’s United States seems to be lagging behind. It is high time for the White House to act, before the November 2022 election deadline.