WP "Biden's Unprecedented Call for Big Tech Reform in Congress"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] The Washington Post (WP) in the United States on the 12th (local time) described President Joe Biden's recent op-ed sent to the influential conservative US newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) emphasizing stronger regulation of Big Tech as a 'very unusual move.' In the op-ed titled 'Republicans and Democrats Must Unite Against Big Tech Abuses,' President Biden presented targeted advertising and algorithmic bias as key reform tasks for Big Tech and called for bipartisan cooperation in Congress on Big Tech regulation. WP reported that through this op-ed, President Biden presented a blueprint that could gauge the direction of Big Tech regulation during the remaining two years of his term.

President Biden's logic for Big Tech regulation is that the excessively large Big Tech companies are not fulfilling their social responsibilities by exploiting their market monopoly power. In the op-ed, President Biden pointed out, "Platforms abuse personal information and expose extreme content to keep users engaged." Although he did not specifically name Big Tech companies, it appears that he raised issues concerning the entire Big Tech industry, including US companies targeted by the legislative, judicial, and executive branches such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Twitter, as well as China's video-sharing platform TikTok.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

President Biden proposed three directions for Big Tech reform. First, he argued that not only should personal information records such as internet history, user location, and biometric data be disclosed, but their collection itself should be prohibited. He also emphasized the need to reduce Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which currently shields platform companies from liability for content posted by social media users. The immunity granted to social media companies has been the foundation for their rapid growth, but following events such as the US Capitol riot and the COVID-19 pandemic, public opinion and political criticism and regulatory movements against harmful posts and fake news have intensified.

The US Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have begun work to define the scope of Section 230 in their antitrust investigation reports on Big Tech companies, and both the Republican and Democratic parties in the US argue for the necessity of amending the law, claiming that social media companies use Section 230 as a shield to neglect violent and harmful posts. Alongside this, President Biden praised the significant progress made in antitrust regulation of Big Tech following the 'Promoting Competition in the American Economy' executive order issued in July last year, adding that platforms operated by Big Tech must be corrected so that small businesses and SMEs receive equal treatment.