What the Biden administration means for the future of Silicon Valley

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Among them, there is what to do with an enormously powerful social media industry that largely continues to spread misinformation and hatred, despite the platforms ’efforts to repress it; how to ensure that all Americans have affordable access to high-speed Internet amid a global pandemic; and responding to an alleged Russian intrusion into U.S. computer networks that has been described as the worst government data breach in years. It is also unclear whether the government’s approach to China-linked companies, including TikTok, whose trade deal with Oracle and Walmart has not yet been approved, could change.

These are the big technological problems that policy experts say the new U.S. government is likely to face.

Article 230

Policy experts say tech companies are still about to make a calculation in Washington, even with the departure of Trump, the industry’s main antagonist for the past four years. Perhaps nowhere is it more evident than with Article 230, the shield of responsibility that largely protects technology companies from lawsuits for their content moderation decisions.

However, Democrats and Republicans disagree on what the problem is.
Republican lawmakers have defended unfounded claims of unconstitutional censorship at the hands of technology platforms (the Constitution does not require private companies to use users ’discourse). At the same time, Democrats, including Biden, say tech companies have not done enough to combat misinformation and should be held accountable. One of Biden’s top technology advisers, Bruce Reed, said in December that “social media companies have long been responsible for what is posted on their platforms.”

For their part, companies such as Google and Facebook have said they have hired thousands of human content moderators and increased content filters based on artificial intelligence.

With Democrats enjoying a narrow margin in Congress, policy experts predict that the Article 230 conversation will move away from Republican legislation aimed at perceived censorship. This is particularly the case after the Capitol riots earlier this month, which were facilitated by online misinformation about the outcome of the 2020 election, said Carl Szabo, general counsel for NetChoice, a technology trading group.

“I think Democrats will be much, much more aggressive in pushing for Section 230 reforms to force stricter moderation of content,” he said.

Antitrust

Threats to big tech companies don’t end there. Major platforms like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google received heavy control last year over their domain, with a report led by the Democratic House finding that companies enjoy “monopoly power.” Facebook and Google are fighting multiple lawsuits from federal and state officials, and Apple and Amazon have been hit by private antitrust lawsuits. All of these outfits are expected to continue.

With Democrats in control of the House and nominally in the Senate, this provides an opportunity for the party to push through some of the most aggressive changes to competition law contemplated in the House’s antitrust report. While Republicans had expressed support for some proposals, such as providing more resources to the Federal Trade Commission, they had rejected others, such as a bill that could prevent technology companies from having a digital platform and competing for she, as does Amazon with its e-commerce site.

“If Congress takes a turn, you can end up with some kind of novelty [regulatory] scheme for large digital markets, ”Columbia University law professor Tim Wu predicted in October.

Network neutrality

One of the first actions of Trump’s Federal Communications Commission in 2017 was to repeal the U.S. government’s net neutrality regulations, which had banned Internet service providers from selectively blocking, slowing or accelerating websites. and applications. Technology companies, Internet activists and consumer groups opposed the move, while telecom providers welcomed deregulation.

Now, with control of Congress and the White House, Democrats have a chance to restore those rules, either by reintroducing them into the FCC or passing legislation to include regulations in law.

This could put an end to what had become a ping-pong game in Washington, with different FCCs adopting different rules every time the Oval Office changed hands.

“We could find a permanent solution to net neutrality,” said Chip Pickering, a former U.S. congressman from Mississippi who now leads INCOMPAS, a telecommunications trading group. Pickering said Congress should impose net neutrality obligations on providers such as Comcast, Verizon and others without explicitly regulating them, as the FCC does with legacy phone service, a key line of failure in past debates.

Broadband access

Because the pandemic has led many Americans to work remotely and go to school, it is clear that rural and low-income Americans do not enjoy the same high-speed Internet access as those with more resources. . Closing this digital divide has historically been a rallying cry for both Republicans and Democrats: making broadband investments a potentially easy bipartisan success, policy experts say.

Expect broadband funding to be part of the talks on infrastructure on Capitol Hill, following Biden’s campaign promise to extend high-speed connectivity to “all Americans.” The FCC is likely to expand existing federal grant programs for connectivity, according to the Brookings Institute. And industry leaders have called for streamlining the launch of 5G wireless service.

Cyber ​​security

The devastating breach of U.S. business and government networks by alleged Russian hackers will be a huge challenge for the Biden administration, as investigators continue to assess the damage.

It will be up to Biden to determine how the U.S. will respond and there are numerous tools at his disposal to do so, said Keith Alexander, a retired general and former director of the National Security Agency. But any response should be carefully calibrated to avoid escalation, he said.

“You can respond by accusing individuals and through diplomatic and economic measures, which they should do,” Alexander told CNN. “But any response in physical cyberspace is likely to become a bigger attack on us and we are not prepared to defend ourselves against that.”

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to say what the administration will do.

“We reserve the right to respond at any time and in any way we choose to any cyberattack,” he said.

Immigration

With the executive actions of the Biden administration last week, Silicon Valley seems hopeful of getting a more welcoming immigration policy in the United States that supports the industry’s use of immigrant talent.

Companies like Apple, Airbnb and IBM quickly applauded Biden’s investment in Trump’s travel ban and his efforts to preserve the program known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Child Arrivals. That program, which Trump had tried to limit, protects undocumented immigrants from deportation who had come to the United States as children.
Apple CEO Tim Cook he said last week he was “inspired” by Biden’s movements. In a blog post, Airbnb said it held executive action to undo the restrictions it said went “against Airbnb’s mission and values.” I IBM said those who benefit from the DACA program “make vital contributions to our communities and economy.”

“We expect a permanent bipartisan solution in the future,” the tech giant said.

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