Two of Big Tech's leading Democratic and Republican critics in the Senate are proposing the creation of an agency to regulate and license Big Tech.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) announced on Thursday they are introducing the Digital Consumer Protection Commission Act. The bill would create an independent, bipartisan agency focusing on licensing and policing companies such as Meta, Google, and Amazon.
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“For too long, giant tech companies have exploited consumers’ data, invaded Americans’ privacy, threatened our national security, and stomped out competition in our economy,” Warren said in a statement. “This bipartisan bill would create a new tech regulator, and it makes clear that reining in Big Tech platforms is a top priority on both sides of the aisle.”
The commission would establish safeguards to protect children from sexual exploitation, cyberbullying, and drugs. It would also penalize tech companies for "suppressing speech" and prepare the government to handle any new threats presented by developing technologies such as generative artificial intelligence. And it would also ensure that user data were protected and private.
"The creation of a regulatory commission to oversee Big Tech is the first step in a long journey to protect American consumers from the massive power these companies currently wield,” Graham said.
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The bill has no co-sponsors yet and was introduced days before the August recess, making its path forward uncertain.
Warren has assisted in creating new agencies before. The Massachusetts Democrat, as a Harvard law professor, played a leading role in the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency designed to protect users from fraud, in 2010.