With House Republicans preparing to take over committee gavels as soon as Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — or someone else — is voted in as speaker, the House Energy & Commerce Committee is signaling that holding the “destructive” force of big tech to account will be a priority.
That’s no big surprise, since reining in edge providers was a bipartisan focus in the last Congress, though how to do it and why it was necessarily divided along party lines.
The House Energy & Commerce Committee website Tuesday (January 3) featured prominently a section on the committee leadership’s “Big Tech Accountability Platform,” and it did not bury the lead. “Big Tech Is Harming Our Children” it read, followed by a quote from new committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers:
“You’ve broken my trust. Yes, because you’ve failed to promote the battle of ideas and free speech. Yes, because you censor political viewpoints you disagree with. Those polarizing actions matter for democracy. But do you know what has convinced me Big Tech is a destructive force? It’s how you’ve abused your power to manipulate and harm our children.”
McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) unveiled that Big Tech Accountability Platform a year ago, but she was in the minority. Now she has the gavel, or will as soon as a speaker is chosen, and has made that platform front and center on the committee website. ■
