Big Tech in trouble, 2 weeks from Election Day – Politico

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Perfect (disastrous) timing: Several of Silicon Valleys biggest battles over antitrust, political interference and Section 230 are coming to a head just two weeks from Election Day.

Confronting anti-Semitism: A conference hosted this week by President Donald Trumps State Department will bring together U.S. and foreign leaders and experts to discuss the role of social media in spreading anti-Jewish hate. Will far-right conspiracy groups be included?

988: President Trump signed into law bipartisan legislation to make 988 the new dialing code for the United States suicide hotline, pushing to give that number the same prominence as the 911 code.

GREETINGS, TECHLINGS! ITS MONDAY; WELCOME BACK TO MORNING TECH. Im your host, Alexandra Levine.

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2 WEEKS TO GO, AND TECHS IN BOILING-HOT WATER Some of the tech worlds biggest battles in Washington are coming to a head just two weeks out from one of the most consequential elections of our time. Case in point: It used to be a rare occurrence to see the CEOs of the most powerful tech companies on the planet testifying before Congress. Now, we could see that happen more than once before the end of the month. So grab a tall, tall cup of coffee (in an oversized orange mug, if you feel so inclined) and buckle up for a wild ride until Election Day heres whats on tap.

On Monday: Brace for DOJ to drop the hammer on Google. The first major monopolization case in decades is likely to drop early this week, as President Trumps Justice Department files its much-anticipated suit against Google over alleged antitrust abuses.

The action is certainly expected to shake the search giant, but its not without its own politics. The DOJ suit is happening without the participation of any Democratic attorneys general, despite the Trump administrations wishes (and months of negotiations) to make the Google fight bipartisan, POLITICOs antitrust guru, Leah Nylen, reports: The Trump DOJ had hoped to entice Democratic-led states to sign on to the complaint in the hopes of avoiding claims that politics played a part in the suit's filing, she writes.

On Tuesday: A subpoena vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to subpoena Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify about alleged anti-GOP bias. The panels move to compel the duo to testify so urgently was prompted by the platforms handling last week of the New York Posts disputed Biden-Burisma story, which Republicans worry could sway the outcome of the election. If the committee votes to authorize a subpoena, the session could happen as early as Friday of this week.

On Wednesday: An examination of extremism. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is slated to host the first-ever U.S. Government conference focused on combatting online anti-Semitism, exploring the role of social media in its spread and how government and civil society organizations should respond. The virtual gathering will feature domestic and foreign leaders including U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as representatives from social media companies and others. The event comes about a week after Facebook announced it would ban Holocaust denial.

Rep. David Cicilline speaks during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on antitrust. | Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP

House Judiciary antitrust Chair David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who is Jewish, is pressing the State Department to look specifically at the role of the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon, far-right hate group The Proud Boys and conspiracy website InfoWars in the rise of anti-Semitic hate. In a letter last week to Pompeo, Cicilline urged discussion on the importance of national leaders fighting the intersection of anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant scapegoating which he suggested has become a norm in American politics and public discourse in recent years. Without naming names, he added that we must consider how all leaders including our own must do better to ensure that they are part of the solution.

On Thursday: A Section 230 deliberation. As tech platforms legal liability shield remains under fire from all sides, Senate Judiciary is scheduled to hold a markup Thursday morning on a Republican-led bill to scale back those protections the Online Content Policy Modernization Act, S. 4632 (116), from Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Next week: 230 fireworks continue. The CEOs of Facebook, Twitter and Google are slated to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee on Section 230 (more on that here). And although 230 is not on the agenda for the FCCs monthly open commission meeting the day before, expect to hear chatter and criticism over Chairman Ajit Pais recent decision to move forward on Section 230 rulemaking. We broke down that decision, and why its dividing Washington, in Fridays Morning Tech.

Lawmakers from across the political spectrum are deeply misinformed about how Section 230 actually works, said Evan Greer, deputy director of the digital rights group Fight for the Future. She argues that repealing the statute wont address concerns raised by both Democratic and Republican members of Congress (around content moderation or alleged bias, for example) and advocates instead for putting actual policies in place to protect free speech and rein in Big Tech abuses, like enacting strong Federal data privacy legislation, restoring net neutrality, banning micro-targeting and harmful forms of algorithmic amplification, and breaking up monopolies." Were likely to hear more from human rights and free expression groups in the coming days.

And after that? Election Day and the chaos likely to follow.

INKED ON THE PRESIDENTS DESK: 988, A NUMBER TO KNOW President Trump over the weekend signed into law the bipartisan National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, S. 2661 (116), which will make 988 the dialing code for the countrys mental health crisis and suicide hotline (and shorten it from ten to three digits). The legislation comes from Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and its a companion bill to the House measure introduced by Reps. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.).

The COVID-19 pandemic has only increased our states mental health needs, and during this unprecedented challenge suicide prevention is now more important than ever, said Gardner. The lawmaker and mental health advocates have stressed how the coronavirus era which has exacerbated depression and anxiety, isolation and substance abuse has made the need for a reliable, easy-to-remember suicide hotline even more urgent. The FCC must now get the 988 shortcode set up from a technical perspective.

ACROSS THE POND: EU LOCKED-AND-LOADED ON DIGITAL TAX The European Commission remains ready to propose an EU-wide tax on digital companies, absent an international agreement being negotiated at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said in an interview with POLITICOs Brussels Playbook author, Florian Eder, and Brussels-based trade reporter, Jakob Hanke Vela.

Besides a desire to make globe-trotting tech firms pay their fair share, Dombrovskis said the EU executive is mindful of member countries such as France going it alone. We stand ready to come forward with a digital taxation proposal at the EU level, because we would like to avoid the fragmentation of the single market if different member states now start introducing different digital taxes, he said.

U.S. has no right to interfere with Frances digital tax: Asked about France's digital tax, the new EU trade chief said Brussels would not accept U.S. retaliation. (The U.S., which has argued that the digital taxes disproportionately ding American tech giants, has threatened to fight back with tariffs). The EU's position on this has been clear: Taxation is a sovereign right of countries and so we are not accepting that third countries are interfering with taxation rights of the member states, especially if those are done in a horizontal way not addressed to any particular country," Dombrovskis said. Read more from the interview in Brussels Playbook.

ICYMI: THE SCOOP ON POLITICOS AI SUMMIT Our third annual AI summit took place last week, welcoming members of Congress, former Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt, and other experts to discuss the ways AI is shaping the pandemic, social justice issues, the 2020 election, competition with China and other policy areas. Read our top takeaways from the virtual gathering here.

Google became the first corporate member to join the European Advertising Standards Alliance. USTelecomThe Broadband Association welcomed new members: SpaceX, Neustar, DUO Broadband, Etex, First Orion, Hiya and Transaction Network Services.

ICYMI: How Mark Zuckerberg Learned Politics [transforming] himself into an active political operator in the Trump era, via WSJ. (The piece has caused a stir among some on the left who believe the CEO has tailored Facebook to be more accommodating to right-leaning, rather than progressive, news outlets.)

U.S. persuades others against Huawei, ZTE: The U.S. government is embarking on a push to persuade developing countries to shun Chinese telecommunications equipment, offering financial assistance to use alternatives, WSJ reports.

On that note: My colleague Eric Geller reports that the Cyberspace Solarium Commission is coming out with a plan today for lowering the risks to information and communications technology posed by China.

A message from Facebook:

We support updated internet regulations.

We support new regulations that hold companies, including Facebook, accountable on issues including: Combating foreign election interference Protecting people's privacy Enabling safe and easy data transfer between platforms

Read why we support updated internet regulations

On IP: World Trade Organization members on Friday rejected a proposal to temporarily waive intellectual property rights, patents and other protections for any medical technologies relating to Covid-19, POLITICO reports.

Techs world takeover: Technology companies are set to end the year with their greatest share of the stock market ever, WSJ reports, topping a dot-com era peak in the latest illustration of their growing influence on global consumers.

Tips, comments, suggestions? Send them along via email to our team: Bob King ([emailprotected], @bkingdc), Heidi Vogt ([emailprotected], @HeidiVogt), Nancy Scola ([emailprotected], @nancyscola), Steven Overly ([emailprotected], @stevenoverly), John Hendel ([emailprotected], @JohnHendel), Cristiano Lima ([emailprotected], @viaCristiano), Alexandra S. Levine ([emailprotected], @Ali_Lev), and Leah Nylen ([emailprotected], @leah_nylen).

TTYL.

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Big Tech in trouble, 2 weeks from Election Day - Politico