The focus of today's Big Tech hearing on Capitol Hill was Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects internet platforms from lawsuits over the removal or restriction of content. Barbara Comstock, a senior adviser at legal and lobbying firm Baker Donelson and former GOP congresswoman from Virginia, said the government is in over its head in the fight against the power of Silicon Valley.
"Those companies all have approval ratings that are in the 70 and 80 and 90 percent, and the thing that isn't working, Congress, has an 18 percent approval rating. So I would hope they keep their hands off of this," Comstock told Cheddar.
With voting already underway in many states, both Democrats and Republicans spent time accusing social giants Twitter and Facebook of attempting to sway the process by either promoting misinformation or censoring news, particularly the controversial New York Post story on Hunter Biden's business dealings.
"It Protects the Freedom to Create and Share Content on Platforms…"
While Comstock doesn't believe platforms should be "bullied" into covering specific news, she said the act does ensure people the liberty to share information at will, so long as it is not "harmful content," which then could be subject to removal under the act.
"What it does is it protects the freedom to create and share content on platforms, a variety of platforms, not just the three companies you saw today; but platforms like Pinterest or Etsy or any kind of place where you want to share information," she said.
For Comstock, who spent time in office working on technology and cybersecurity matters, it makes sense for big tech companies and their users to be the ones regulating how these platforms operate. Comstock cites the inability for Congress to effectively govern as a premise for it to stay away from regulating internet platforms.
Following today's hearing, President Trump called for Section 230 to be repealed, however, Comstock said the services that internet platforms provide under the act are effective.
"Section 230 is what has allowed the internet to grow in the first place and allows everybody to have a voice," she said.
"It was designed to be very modern, and I think, unfortunately, what you have with Congress — and I would say a pox on both houses, Republicans and Democrats — is they basically don't like how any Media covers them."
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
