A tech issue that could unite a deeply divided Congress

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Despite a divided Congress, an influential Senate Democrat says legislation dealing with the technology “arms race” with China and issues related to social media could be enacted within the current two-year term.

Some analysts say U.S. tech companies are lagging behind their Chinese rivals in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced energy, and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia told The Daily Beast that measures to boost investment have broad support from lawmakers. Where the risks are visible and where they can be serious.

“Wherever we are in a technology war race with China, I think we can get some things done,” Warner, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an interview at the CES technology trade show on Friday.

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Those efforts will require public and private investment to succeed, said Warner, a former mobile technology executive, before embarking on a political career that led to his election to the governor’s mansion in Virginia and the U.S. Senate in 2008.

The chances of legislation tightening social media regulations are less clear, but could be tied to national security challenges, he said, leading the discussion on the popular video-sharing app Tik Tok.

TikTok, which says it has more than 1 billion active users worldwide, has sparked concerns from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle that it could be used as a spying and propaganda tool by the Chinese government.

TikTok has repeatedly denied that the Chinese government controls its content or requests information from its users.

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Already, the federal government and at least 19 individuals have blocked TikTok from government computers. While in office, former President Donald Trump was ordered by President Joe Biden to force TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, to sell its service to an American company.

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress introduced legislation at the end of the 2022 session to “protect Americans by banning and restricting any social media company’s transactions in China, Russia and other foreign countries of concern.” No action is taken, but the account or equivalent may be restarted in the current session.

Warner indicated that he doesn’t support such a broad-brush approach, but said it could be a step toward resolving Tik Tok’s controversy.

“I’m not talking about banning an app, but the safety challenge that TikTok poses to our children is alive and real,” he said.

Warner laments that Congress has taken no action to strengthen privacy protections and address other concerns related to social media. “It’s mind-boggling to me that we have to sacrifice American leadership for this,” he said.

Despite concerns on both sides of the aisle, he thinks partisan divides can currently limit legislation to “some small-ball stuff,” such as setting data portability standards and banning “dark patterns”—website and app designs that mislead or coerce. By making it impossible to opt out, users make unwanted purchases or bad choices.

One exception is legislation to increase protections for children and address the effects of social media on their mental health, Warner said. “Anything around child welfare is going to be broadly bipartisan,” he said.

Warner’s Friday interview with The Daily Beast came shortly after appearing on a CES panel with Democratic senators from Nevada and Ben Ray Luhan from New Mexico, both of whom have been active in developing technology-related legislation. Issues on the minds of lawmakers at the top of the new session.

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Among other things, the three discussed recommending strong cybersecurity protocols in both the private and public sectors, especially when it comes to health information. “I see the innovation in healthcare, but until we make sure that cyber defenses are actually built into healthcare systems rather than locked into them, I don’t think we’ll get it. That’s right,” Warner said.

They also discussed the need to address the “digital divide” by closely monitoring the $65 billion in spending authorized by Congress to expand broadband access in rural and underserved communities. Rosen said she and Luhan worked to ensure that the Federal Communications Commission’s maps of the broadband portion included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress in 2021 reflect coverage areas on the ground.

There were also comments about efforts to amend or repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which gives Internet publishers legal immunity for content posted on their platforms by third parties. Warner has indicated that he does not believe significant action will be taken on this due to deep party divisions.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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