Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday said Big Tech companies will kill his legislation intending to protect kids online and he is working on a fallback plan.
The South Carolina Republican said his frustration with the Senate’s inaction has driven him to team with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, on an alternative proposal to empower regulators to go after large technology companies.
Mr. Graham’s EARN IT Act has more than 20 Democratic and Republican co-sponsors and advanced via a voice vote through the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. The authors have said their bill would strike a blow against Big Tech by stripping the companies’ immunity from legal liability for child sexual abuse material posted by people using the companies’ platforms.
The committee advanced a previous version of the legislation last year that never became law. Mr. Graham said the 2023 bill is doomed to a similar demise because of Big Tech companies’ influence over Congress.
“They’re the largest companies in the world; they’re making hundreds of billions of dollars, and part of their business model is destroying people’s lives and they’re going to beat us,” Mr. Graham said at the meeting before the vote. “We’re going to pass the EARN IT Act today, but it’ll go nowhere.”
The EARN IT Act’s co-sponsors urged Mr. Graham not to sound so fatalistic. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, said he hasn’t given up hope and implored the Republican to consider that a “journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Mr. Graham did not appear persuaded. He said consumers are getting “completely screwed” and he wanted to create new powers for government regulators to crack down on tech companies.
Giving more power to the government to shape tech companies’ operations is something that has concerned several of Mr. Graham’s colleagues about the EARN IT Act.
After the bill’s failure last year, lawmakers rewrote the legislation’s duty of care that directs companies to prevent and mitigate their tech platforms from enabling mental health disorders in children.
State attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission are tasked with enforcing the law, and both Democrats and Republicans fretted about how the law would be applied.
Sen. Cory Booker, New Jersey Democrat, said the bill needed to be refined more before receiving final consideration on the Senate floor.
“I have a real concern in this bill about issues of cybersecurity and how we might empower the government to do things to target disadvantaged groups for more harassment and discrimination, groups that we know are ultimately vulnerable,” Mr. Booker said.
Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, similarly said Wednesday that he feared Republican state government officials would use the legislation to wage a culture war against children.
Democrats are not the only ones raising concerns about online child safety legislation. Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, said lawmakers must be careful that the legislation would not accidentally destroy encryption that is used for things such as securing governmental secrets and making online payments safe.
The EARN IT Act has also drawn the ire of liberal and conservative advocacy groups. The American Civil Liberties Union and Americans for Prosperity urged lawmakers on Wednesday to oppose the legislation over fears that it would chill free speech on the internet and stifle innovation.
Source:Washington Times
