*By Michael Teich*
Democrats led by Senator Mark Warner are stepping up the charge against big tech, but they may not accomplish anything unless the party makes major gains in the midterm elections, according to Axios reporter David McCabe.
Disinformation and privacy concerns on social media platforms have become a major concern of many lawmakers after Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election was uncovered.
"It's not hugely surprising to see Democrats engaging on the disinformation piece because of the concerns about 2016," McCabe said Tuesday in an interview with Cheddar.
Facebook has spent nearly two years working to counter political misinformation campaigns on its platform. The company announced Tuesday it found and removed 32 pages and accounts linked to an influence campaign on Facebook and Instagram. Warner said in a statement Tuesday that "the Kremlin continues to exploit platforms like Facebook to sow division and spread disinformation."
Before Facebook's announcement, McCabe had obtained Warner's policy papers, which propose 20 ways to address disinformation online, protect user privacy, and encourage greater competition.
McCabe said he's skeptical that Warner's proposals can be enacted in the near-term. Despite a growing tech-lash and heightened concerns over data privacy that resulted from Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal, the issues are not priorities for Democrats or Republicans.
"Going into midterms, this hasn’t proven to be a big election issue," McCabe said before Facebook's latest revelation.
If Democrats can shift party control of Congress in November, they may be able to get enough momentum behind Warner's ideas, said McCabe. But even if they do well in midterms, the Democrats will have to go up against big tech's robust lobbying efforts. McCabe said the Democrats' intentions, as outlined by Warner, may prompt tech companies to spend even more on lobbying lawmakers in Washington.
In September, legislators will question social media executives including Twitter's Jack Dorsey in order to evaluate how government regulations might prevent the spread of misinformation and propaganda on social platforms.
For more on this, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/mark-warners-uphill-battle-against-big-tech).
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Cheddar's Hope King looks back at her first trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Self-driving innovators need to earn the trust of drivers ー and that starts with transparency, said Jack Weast, chief systems architect for Autonomous Driving Solutions at Intel. "We feel the industry has a responsibility to be more open and transparent about how the technology works, especially when it comes to decision- making, which is really at the heart of what it means to drive safely," Weast told Cheddar's Tamara Warren from the floor of the CES convention in Las Vegas.
Even creative industries like advertising aren't exempt from advances in technology and automation. "Brand tech" firm You And Mr Jones took a majority stake in Inside Ideas Group, a company that helps brands form their own internal marketing groups.
The future is all-electric ー at least for General Motors, the carmaker's Chairwoman and CEO Mary Barra said on Cheddar Friday. "At General Motors, we believe in an all-electric future," Barra told Betty Liu, executive vice chairman for the New York Stock Exchange, through a special partnership between Cheddar and NYSE. "We believe that's the path forward, and that's why we are dedicating resources to build on the Chevrolet Volt first and second generations, now the Chevrolet Bolt EV."
Is it time for the federal government to hire its own chief information officer? Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.) thinks so. He told Cheddar Friday that the recent spate of major data breaches warrant a federal czar to help protect consumers and potentially even levy penalties on companies that don't do enough to safeguard users' information.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Jan. 11, 2019.
Cryptocurrencies and digital assets are ideally left to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, rather than the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Congressman Darren Soto (D-Fla.). "Securities laws can be very intense and hurt the market unless it’s truly a security,” Soto told Cheddar Thursday.
Bitcoin's rebound over the $4,000 mark was short-lived, tumbling on Thursday below the $4,000 price level for the first time since Jan. 6. "I think it is a good chance we are going to retest 3,000 as a low and there is a good chance it will probably break through that ー if it hits that low," said Civic CEO Vinny Lingham in an interview with Cheddar. "The market is definitely trying to find a bottom, and I don't think we've found one yet."
Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm, spoke to Cheddar's Hope King from CES, where Qualcomm is unveiling several new products and initiatives, including A.I.-based infotainment centers for vehicles. But the big story of the year, Amon said, will be the spread of 5G technology, which he expects to be in most major cities and on most new Android devices by the second half of this year.
