Tech

Senators demand Facebook, Twitter, TikTok be more transparent with data

By
Social Links for Ariel Zilber
Published Dec. 22, 2022
Updated Dec. 22, 2022, 3:02 p.m. ET

Lawmakers looking to crack down on Big Tech passed a bipartisan bill requiring greater transparency from social media apps to protect kids, families and national security.

The Platform Accountability and Transparency Act will force sites including Facebook, TikTok and Twitter to submit data about ad libraries, content moderation and algorithms to an independent body.

The bill is aimed at addressing a “dangerous lack of transparency about how these platforms impact our children, families, society, or national security,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), one of the co-sponsors of the bill passed Wednesday.

“For too long, social media companies have said: ‘just trust us,’ while putting their profits ahead of consumers’ safety, privacy, and wellbeing,” said Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), another co-sponsor of the bill. “It’s time to stop admiring the problem and instead start holding these platforms accountable for the dangerous lack of transparency behind their algorithms.”

Lawmakers have called for more transparency from Facebook -- owned by Mark Zuckerberg -- TikTok, and other social media platforms.
The Platform Accountability and Transparency Act have calls for more transparency from Facebook — owned by Mark Zuckerberg — TikTok, and other social media platforms. REUTERS

Social media companies would be required to provide the data to researchers who have been approved by the National Science Foundation. Any company which fails to comply would be subject to enforcement from the Federal Trade Commission and risks losing immunity from liability afforded to them by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Section 230 protects apps from being sued for content posted by third-party members. In recent years, there have been calls from public officials to repeal the law in order to rein in tech firms who have been criticized for their content moderation policies.

“I have a number of concerns about Big Tech — from facilitating sex trafficking to burying content about the origins of COVID-19 — and I want to ensure that any response by Congress is effective in addressing those concerns,” said Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, one of the two Republican co-sponsors with Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.

Talk of regulating Big Tech has gained momentum in recent years as critics have accused companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon of gaining unfair competitive advantages due to their dominant positions in the marketplace.

The companies have spent more than $100 million lobbying Capitol Hill to quash two bills that were approved by the House of Representatives this year aimed at curbing their power.

There also appears to be a growing bipartisan appetite to either curb or ban TikTok, the popular Gen Z-dominated app, over concerns that its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, had access to Americans’ personal data that could pose a threat to national security.

Congress is expected to ban TikTok on government devices in the appropriations bill that must be voted on by Friday. However, the Senate declined to include provisions from the bipartisan antitrust legislation in the omnibus package.