Tech Policy in the 118th Congress

While debate over the budget and the debt ceiling have dominated headlines on Capitol Hill, the last few weeks have seen a flurry of new legislation and hearings focused on big tech.  Just in the month of March alone, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on federal data privacy legislation exploring the Chinese Communist Party’s alleged control of TikTok. In the Senate, the Judiciary Committee has already held hearings on tech-related competition legislation and content moderation and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.  On the investigative front, the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on Weaponization of the federal Government held a hearing investigating the so-called “Twitter Files,” and allegations of collusion between Democrats and the tech industry.

Next steps

Listen to Ari Fridman, Ches Garrison, James Denvil, and Katy Milner discuss their thoughts content moderation, congressional investigations and other tech policy topics.

• Overview:  Despite a lack of progress, there is no lack of interest in tech regulation in both parties.
• Privacy: We discuss how the change in House leadership may influence for the prospects for privacy legislation this year.
• Content Moderation: There is bipartisan interest in reform of Section 230, but Republicans and Democrats differ on what types of reforms are needed.
• Competition: If the relationship between tech industry and House Republicans gets more acrimonious, House Republicans could look at antitrust bills as a cudgel to push back on the tech industry.
• Investigations: We expect a busy investigations agenda in House and Senate.
• Q&A: The panel discusses the biggest regulatory and legislative threats to tech companies.

Authored by Ari Fridman, Ches Garrison, James Denvil, and Katy Milner.