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Following today's hearing, President Trump called for Section 230 to be repealed, however, Comstock said the services that internet platforms provide under the act are effective.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."
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
