The Senate Judiciary Committee debated a proposal Thursday morning to give news outlets the ability to collectively bargain with technology platforms — but the vote on the bill came after Democrats pushed for an amendment that passed.
We break down the White House’s announcement on the fundamental principles of reform aimed at increasing competition and technology accountability.
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Klobuchar: Treaty ‘drafted’ with amendments
After Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) blocked an amendment proposed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), she asked for a committee vote to allow news outlets to collectively bargain with tech platforms. Senators reached a bipartisan agreement before Thursday’s meeting.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were scheduled to vote on an amended version of the Journalism Competition and Protection Act, but Klobuchar called for Cruz’s amendment to be held up after Republicans in the committee passed it by a unanimous margin.
- “I think the agreement that we had was shaken,” Klobuchar said.
- In a statement, she said she fully plans to continue the bill.
- “This legislation will protect local journalism by leveling the playing field and allowing local news outlets to cooperate and negotiate fair compensation from tech platforms. I am committed to passing targeted, bipartisan legislation to achieve this goal,” she said in a statement.
The amendment passed on an 11-10 vote. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who will be sidelined in India after testing positive for Covid-19, was not present and did not cast a proxy vote either way on the amendment — giving GOP senators the upper hand.
The bill would give newsrooms employing fewer than 1,500 full-time employees — aimed at excluding the nation’s three largest newspapers and national broadcasters — the ability to collectively bargain with major tech platforms like Google and Facebook. Distributing their content.
Read more about the markup.
Pre-sign debate on the law
Debate over a proposal to give news outlets the power to negotiate with tech giants to distribute their content was heating up ahead of Thursday’s Senate floor.
Bipartisan sponsors of the Journalism Competition and Protection Act passed an amended version of the bill in the House and Senate in August, prompting opposition to the legislation and campaigns from advocacy groups.
Progress, Public Knowledge and 19 other advocacy groups sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee’s top senators on Friday against the bill, arguing that the revised version would force tech platforms to hold digital content “no matter how extreme.”
But the News Media Alliance, a trade association representing newspapers across the U.S., rejected arguments against the law, saying it would even the playing field after years of technology platforms undermining local news.
“This is expected to be a backlash from organizations that substantiate these claims,” Daniel Coffey, executive vice president and general counsel of the News Media Alliance, told The Hill.
Read more here.
White House Tech Agenda
The White House unveiled the basic principles of reforms aimed at increasing competition and technology accountability Thursday after a roundtable session with experts from advocacy groups, private companies and government officials.
Participants included Washington, D.C. Attorney General Carl Racine (D), Sonos CEO Patrick Spence and Center for Democracy and Technology President and CEO Damon Hewitt.
The White House has identified six broad reform principles, including promoting competition in the technology sector, providing “stronger” federal protections for privacy, keeping children safe online, increasing transparency about algorithms, and ending biased algorithmic decision-making.
Another major principle the White House has identified is an amendment to “special legal protections for large technology platforms,” citing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The controversial provision gives tech companies liability protection for content posted on their platforms by third parties.
In the announcement, the White House said President Biden “has long called for fundamental reforms to Section 230.” On the presidential campaign trail, Biden said Section 230 should be repealed, but the president has yet to expand on what the reform might look like under his administration.
Bits and pieces
Op-ed to chew on: No car loans from Bank Australia, unless it’s an EV – and the US could do the same.
Popular links from around the web:
These Educators Are Ready When Young People Get Misinformed (The New York Times/Tiffany Hsu)
The Facebook button is disappearing from websites as consumers demand better privacy (CNBC/Jonathan Vanian)
🎤 Light touch: The next American Idol?
One more thing: The DOJ appealed the special ruling.
The Justice Department on Thursday filed a notice of intent to appeal a ruling granting former President Trump’s request for special counsel, asking the judge to stay a ruling that blocked his investigation.
“Without a stay, the government and the public will suffer irreparable harm from the undue delay in the criminal investigation,” the DOJ wrote in the filing.
“Any delay in the context of an investigation into the mishandling of classified records raises serious concerns.”
Read more here.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out the Hill’s Technology and Cyber Security pages for the latest news and coverage. I’ll see you tomorrow.
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