① Means’Agree’ to abolish Article 230 of the Communication Quality Act
② A large number of tech regulators
③ It may be difficult to regulate due to the battle for hegemony with China
As Joe Biden took office as the 46th president of the United States on the 20th (local time), the debate over whether Biden is a real’tech regulator’ is hot in Silicon Valley. Photo = AP
As Joe Biden took office as the 46th President of the United States on the 20th (local time), the debate over whether Biden is a real’tech regulator’ is hot in Silicon Valley. Biden, who has spoken hard to Facebook, Google, and Apple since his days as a candidate, will have a friendly relationship with China after taking office because of the issue of a technical hegemony with China. There are also observations that these companies will start working to relieve their power.
Means’Agree’ to abolish Article 230 of the Communication Quality Act
It has recently been announced that Biden will establish an antitrust officer system targeting large platform companies such as Google, Apple, and Facebook. Reuters reported on the 20th, citing multiple sources familiar with President Biden’s situation, and it is analyzed that if such a system is created, it is likely to be the first pressure action aimed at big tech. It is not known whether the position of the antitrust officer will simply act as a coordinator between the White House and Silicon Valley, or will the White House oversee Silicon Valley altogether. President Biden’s side has not made an official position on such reports.
Photo = AP
During the presidential election, President Biden held a negative position on the antitrust violations of big tech companies. One example is the abolition of Article 230 of the Communication Quality Act (CDA), which regulates the immunity rights of platform companies. Article 230 of the Communication Quality Act prevents the social media companies from holding legal responsibility for content uploaded by users. But Biden said, when he was elected, that the law had exempted many IT companies from liability for their actions. Biden once urged Congress to abolish the law entirely during the campaign.
Bruce Reed, who was appointed to the White House Deputy Secretary’s Office, said in a post-election lecture at Georgetown University that holding social media companies accountable for their publications on their sites and services “should have been done”. Senator Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) of the Democratic Party, who co-sponsored the amendment to the Article 230 of the Communications Quality Act, re-discussed the provision to broader dialogue with Biden Camp over the issue of adopting measures that place greater responsibility on IT companies. He said he shared.
In the so-called’Blue Wave’ regime where the Democratic Party dominated the Senate and House, it is also a mountain for big tech companies to be unable to ignore the Democratic Party argument. The US House Antitrust Subcommittee’s’Digital Market Competition Report’, known as the Democratic Party’s Adoption Plan, addresses the abuse of the influence of big tech companies. The gist of this report is that antitrust laws need to be strengthened and the division of proprietary technology companies is needed. Already, big tech companies have been sued by the government in the United States. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which serves as Korea’s Fair Trade Commission, filed a lawsuit against Facebook in Washington federal court late last year for violating antitrust laws. Earlier, the US Department of Justice also filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google’s parent company Alphabet in October.
To the front of a large number of tech regulators
Looking at the aspects of President Biden’s 1st term personnel, this big-tech regulation theory is even more powerful. First of all, Garry Gensler, who was appointed as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is a representative person who foretells the regulation. Gensler, a former U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs, served as the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) during the Obama administration.He joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor in 2018 and opened a lecture on blockchain technology to attract a lot of attention.
Garry Gensler nominated as the new Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman. Photo = REUTERS
The US Financial Times said, “Gensler was a person who, during the Obama administration, worked as the head of the Treasury Department’s finance department to deal with the aftereffects of the financial crisis, and witnessed how dangerous unregulated finance and derivatives were, and believes that control is necessary.” Evaluated. At MIT, Gensler also published a paper with the main idea of ”new technology needs regulations to match it”.
Rohit Chopra, nominated for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) chief, is also one of the leading tech regulators. Chopra’s new director is a close friend of Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is called the “Underman of Wall Street.” When the FTC member, the new director, Chopra decided to impose a fine of $5 billion (about 5.9 trillion won) by Facebook for infringement on user privacy such as the leakage of personal information, the person who threw a’reverse’ saying “the sanctions are too weak” It is famous for.
Chopra’s new director has been advocating big tech regulations since 2018, working as a FTC member. For example, in December of last year, he criticized that nine large IT companies, such as Facebook and Twitter, must submit data explaining how they collect user data, and that “a lot about these industries is unclear.” CNN analyzed that “The appointment of the new Director Chopra foreshadowed Biden’s active oversight of the financial and industrial sectors.”
Economic slowdown, struggle for supremacy with China… “Regulation might not be easy”
However, some argue that Biden’s big tech regulation could end with’fake motion’. Considering the special situation of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), and the fact that China and China are fiercely fighting over’technological supremacy’, Biden pointed out that in the long run, it is difficult for Biden to bring out unreasonable regulatory measures for these companies. is.
Currently, the unemployment rate in the U.S. has risen to 14.7% in April last year in the aftermath of Corona 19, and the GDP growth rate has fallen to the ground at a record-low level in the second quarter of last year. Since then, the unemployment rate has been on the rise, but it is still higher than before Corona 19 at 6.7% as of December last year. For this reason, local economists say that regulations such as corporate tax hikes by tech companies that actually support the US economy will be a difficult option.
Dae-hoon Han, a researcher at SK Securities, said, “The US economic slowdown continues, the US big tech companies need to compete in the battle for supremacy with China, and the pro-Silicon Valley network of President Biden and Vice President Harris. Considering it, no matter how much the Congress is’Blue Wave’, it will not be easy to tighten regulations,” he said.
Reporter No Jeong-dong Hankyung.com [email protected]