Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

White House unveils principles for Big Tech reform

Published 09/09/2022, 03:57 am
Updated 09/09/2022, 06:26 am
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The White House is pictured from the West Wing Driveway in Washington, U.S., February 10, 2022. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The White House is pictured from the West Wing Driveway in Washington, U.S., February 10, 2022. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

By David Shepardson and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The White House on Thursday outlined six principles to reform Big Tech platforms and said it was encouraged to see bipartisan interest in Congress to rein in major U.S. tech companies.

The six principles, entitled "Enhancing Competition and Tech Platform Accountability," were released after Biden administration officials earlier in the day met with experts to discuss "the harms that tech platforms cause and the need for greater accountability."

The White House said the United States needs "clear rules of the road to ensure small and mid-size businesses and entrepreneurs can compete on a level playing field."

"These principles are the culmination of months of work by the administration and engagement with numerous stakeholders," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. "We're looking forward to hearing any feedback from the tech companies."

A group of bipartisan lawmakers has introduced antitrust legislation aimed at reining in the four tech giants -- Meta Platform's Facebook (NASDAQ:META), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s Google and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) -- that would bar the companies from favoring their own businesses in search results and other ways. The lawmakers have said they believe they have the 60 Senate votes needed to move forward, but no vote has yet been scheduled.

Among issues discussed at Thursday's meeting, which included numerous senior White House officials, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine and technology experts, were antitrust, privacy, algorithmic discrimination and other tech policy areas, the White House said.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The White House is pictured from the West Wing Driveway in Washington, U.S., February 10, 2022. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

The six principles include promoting technology sector competition; adopting robust federal privacy protections, and tougher privacy and online protections for children; rescinding special legal protections for large tech platforms; increasing transparency about platforms' algorithms and content moderation decisions; and ending discriminatory algorithmic decision-making.

"The rise of tech platforms has introduced new and difficult challenges," the White House said, "from the tragic acts of violence linked to toxic online cultures, to deteriorating mental health and wellbeing, to basic rights of Americans and communities worldwide suffering from the rise of tech platforms big and small."

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.