josh hawley

A powerful and bizarre coalition of Senators have teamed up on a bill that could strike down the digital ad dominance of Google and Meta, though the proposed legislation never mentions those companies by name. The AMERICA Act could radically transform advertising technology, the financial backbone of the internet.Google’s Antitrust Case Is the Best Thing That Ever Happened to AITry to say the bill’s title in one breath: The Advertising Middlemen Endangering Rigorous Internet Competition Accountability Act, aka the AMERICA…

Self-described libertarian, Kentucky Senator, and messy yard dispute loser Rand Paul has broken with fellow Republicans and become possibly the sole GOP voice opposing a national TikTok ban. In his view, banning TikTok would violate Americans’ right to free speech and would make vindictive US lawmakers no different from their Chinese counterparts who’ve moved to ban US social media firms like Facebook and YouTube. Paul’s recent statements come just days after House lawmakers from both parties laid into TikTok CEO Shou Zi…

In a combative hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew tacitly admitted the company sells user data.“I believe we do not sell data to any data brokers,” Chew said in response to a question from congressman Frank Pallone. “I didn’t ask you about data brokers, Pallone said. “Do you sell it to anyone?”“Congressman, I actually am in support of some rules...” Chew responded before another interruption from Pallone. “I didn’t ask you about rules, I asked you whether the company…

On Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify before Congress, marking his highest-profile speaking opportunity to date. He wants you to hear this message: TikTok is not a threat, and it has become too important to too many Americans to ban.TikTok is locked in a battle with the US government over the app’s privacy and security. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based company, and thus could be forced to hand data over to the Chinese Communist Party. Some critics worry the app could also be used to spread…

The loudest voice calling for dramatic Big Tech break up in the upcoming 2024 presidential election might not come from President Joe Biden or progressive lefties, but rather, from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The conservative governor and probable presidential candidate revealed his views at a private event caught on video, where he said dominant tech firms like Google and Meta are “ruining our country” and should be broken up. In his view, Big Tech behemoths are worse for society than Standard Oil and other…

Photo: Mario Tama (Getty Images)A former TikTok employee turned whistleblower has reportedly met with multiple U.S. senators expressing concerns TikTok’s plan to secure U.S. user data won’t go far enough to stop possible Chinese espionage. The whistleblower told The Washington Post in an interview that the company’s policy plan, dubbed Project Texas, doesn’t go far enough and that properly ensuring U.S. data is secured from Chinese employees requires nothing short of a “complete re-engineering” of the way the app…

Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty Images)During a combative Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Senate lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle doubled down on calls to gut major provisions of the internet’s most important legal liability shield. The senators slammed tech companies for allegedly putting profits over user safety and criticized members of the Supreme Court who appeared hesitant to upend Section 230 protections during oral arguments last month. Supporters of Section 230 say its provisions are…

Pete Buttigieg, US transportation secretary, speaks during a news conference near the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, US, on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.Matthew Hatcher | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe presidents of U.S. railroad unions told Biden administration officials that rail workers have fallen ill at the Norfolk Southern derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio, in a push for more train safety.Leaders from 12 unions met with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Amit Bose,…

In a survey of over 1,400 from Boston Children’s Hospital, TikTok was their second most used app. Image: phBodrova (Shutterstock)Have you ever used TikTok for such a long time that you felt like your brain was going to melt and leak out of your ears? Well TikTok now has a plan (albeit certainly not foolproof) to prevent teens and children using the app from endlessly scrolling. In the next few weeks, all users under 18 years old will receive a 60-minute screen time limit automatically set by the app that can only be…

Photo: Cindy Ord (Getty Images)A fast-tracked, vague Republican bill granting the Biden administration the ability to impose a nationwide TikTok ban moved a step closer toward legality on Tuesday after passing a vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The sweeping new legislation, if passed into law, would grant the Biden administration the ability to totally ban TikTok or other foreign software companies believed to be involved in the transfer of “sensitive data.” Critics, including the American Civil Liberties…