Lindsay Mark Lewis, Executive Director of the Progressive Policy Institute, released the following statement in response to mounting Democratic criticism of the Klobuchar-Grassley bill’s content moderation provisions.
“Democratic Senators are rightly raising red flags about S. 2992, especially content moderation provisions inserted in the bill in a bid to gain Republican co-sponsors. While bipartisanship is often a virtue, it shouldn’t be purchased at the price of making huge concessions to pro-Trump Republicans like Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley. Rather than asking Senators to vote for a poorly drafted bill, these and other glaring defects should be fixed.
“As reported today, Senators Schatz, Wyden, Baldwin and Lujan are standing up to protect Americans from online falsehoods, conspiracy theories and hate speech from right-wing extremists. Sen. Schatz’s amendment affirming tech companies’ responsibility and ability to moderate online content should be the starting point for a new and better competition bill.
“S. 2992 is supposedly intended to update U.S. antitrust laws, but as PPI has pointed out repeatedly, it offers little convincing evidence that competition is lacking in America’s dynamic tech and ecommerce sector. To make matters worse, the bill also caves to right-wing demands to flood the internet with Trump-style lies and disinformation.
“This alone is reason enough for Senate leaders to send the bill back to the drawing board.”
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