Big tech companies tend to make a lot of enemies — but there are none more powerful than the US government. Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta are regularly called in front of Congress to fend off monopoly accusations — and lawmakers bring up bills to rein in the companies just as often. The Federal Trade Commission has taken a particularly central role, leading a lawsuit to sever Facebook and Instagram while blocking new acquisitions for Oculus and the company’s virtual reality wing. Like it or not, these regulatory fights will play a huge role in deciding the future of tech — and neither side is playing nice.
It’s one of a few updates the company shared in a post how it will support Reddit communities during elections. Reddit also plans to release an “after-election report” in Q1 2025 about how things went on the platform and is experimenting with a dedicated tip line for moderators to escalate election-related concerns.
This was mandated for all federal agencies back in March, so expect more of these kinds of announcements.
CISA’s general ambit means this hire is a tad bit more significant than the average Chief AI Officer — the agency deals with foreign influence operations and election cybersecurity, for instance. (In 2020, the agency’s head was yeeted by Trump for saying that the election had in fact been safe and secure.)
[Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA]
Masters last ran (and lost) against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) for his senate seat; this cycle he was angling for a House seat in Arizona.
The other notable Peter-Thiel-protege-turned-politician is, of course, JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president.
[The New York Times]
You can watch all 34 minutes of the interview here.
Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) updated their discussion draft that seeks to prevent debacles like that between Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI. It’s gained the support of SAG-AFTRA and the Recording Industry Association, but the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which counts tech companies among its donors, previously raised concerns that the draft bill was overly broad.
The vice president and likely Democratic presidential nominee applauded the Senate’s vote to pass the Kids Online Safety Act and urged full passage through Congress.
As the fervor among Democrats surrounding her still-new presidential campaign continues, Vice President Kamala Harris has now joined TikTok.
“I’ve heard that recently I’ve been on the For You page, so I thought I would get on here myself,” she says in the clip.
Harris has previously expressed national security concerns about TikTok parent company ByteDance, but also said the Biden administration has “no intention to ban TikTok.”
Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed the state’s own laws to protect kids online, exemplifying how states have been the first to move on this kind of legislation. Hochul said in a statement that when she signed those bills, “we were sending a message to the nation. Now, I’m excited to see the Senate take steps to help safeguard more young people nationwide.”
The bill they’re contained in passed the 60 vote threshold to close debate, but the Senate must still vote to fully pass it. Schumer indicated that could happen early next week. Should it pass, it goes to the House – but that could take a while considering members are leaving early for summer recess.
“Once the Senate clears today’s procedural vote, KOSA and COPPA will be on a glide path to final passage early next week,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said ahead of the cloture vote, which closes debate and sets up the bills for a full vote.
That bill is being used as the vehicle for KOSA and COPPA 2.0. They’re basically tucked in as an amendment to this unrelated bill that deals with duplicative reporting requirements for federal agencies.
The Tennessee Republican, another of the bill’s lead sponsors, began her remarks with what KOSA doesn’t do. It doesn’t cover nonprofits, it doesn’t include rule-making, it doesn’t include news outlets, and it doesn’t give the government new authority, she said.
“There’s no censorship in this bill. None. Zero,” the Connecticut Democrat who’s the bill’s lead sponsor said on the Senate floor. “It is about product design. Much as it would be about a car that is unsafe and is required to have seatbelts and airbags.”
The Kentucky Republican said the bill “promises to be pandora’s box of unintended consequences.” He added that “there’s enough to hate this bill from the right and left,” describing, for example, how discussion of sexuality, climate change, and abortion could cause anxiety, which the duty of care mandates platforms try to mitigate.
Reuters reports that Meta could be slapped with fines as high as $13.4 billion for tying classified advertisements service Marketplace with its Facebook social network.
The ruling, which is expected in the coming weeks, would come over 18 months since the European Commission accused Meta of “abusive practices” that enabled it to distort competition in the online classified ads market.
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It’s a busy day in DC: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address Congress this afternoon, and Musk is in attendance.
Dozens of Democrats have vowed to boycott his speech — and protests are happening today — as the Israeli bombardment of Gaza stretches into its ninth month. Nearly 40,000 people have been killed.
Update: Musk told a reporter he’s there as a guest of Netanyahu’s.
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Vice President Kamala Harris now has the support of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) for the top job. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said he would issue an Oval Office address at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, “on what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people.”
JD Vance’s former coworkers say the vice presidential candidate wasn’t very good at being a venture capitalist. One person said he was too consumed with his book tour around Hillbilly Elegy to show up to work.