Biden is taking an 'absolutely wrong approach' to cracking down on Big Tech, critics say

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As president, Joe Biden has made it clear that he wants to lead the charge to change the way Big Tech operates in the United States. In a rare op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Biden sharply criticized tech companies while outlining three major areas of regulatory reform he says Congress should consider this year. Only with bipartisan action, Biden said, can the United States do more to protect data privacy, prevent anti-competitive behavior and "fundamentally reform Section 230," reversing course and holding platforms responsible for third-party content.

However, not everyone agrees with Biden's vision of a brighter future for tech innovation in the United States. Perhaps the biggest disagreement concerns his proposals to reform Section 230. Republicans seem keen on revising Section 230, not because they want to hold platforms accountable for content, but because they want to prevent a suspected content moderation bias against right-wing users. Meanwhile, some nonpartisan critics have advised against the Section 230 reforms proposed by both Democrats and Republicans. Among them is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online civil liberties nonprofit, which has long argued that, in its current state, Section 230 is "a critical legal pillar for online speech." ".

"As originally written, Section 230 permits good faith moderation by platforms without fear of assuming undue liability for their users' posts," reads the transition note. of the EFF providing technical policy recommendations for Biden. "Changing the law to force the removal of so-called 'misinformation', requiring political neutrality of their decisions or expanding the liability of platforms for already illegal content would have consequences that go far beyond the intended targets." The EFF did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment, but warned in the memo that by weakening Section 230, Biden could trigger even more content removal, silence more users and reduce overall internet functionality.

Another critic not entirely sold on Biden's approach is Adam Thierer, senior researcher for R Street, a nonpartisan, nonprofit policy research group. He tweeted that Biden's "strongly worded" op-ed was "essentially a call for America to be more like Europe on tech policy, with comprehensive, top-down and highly repressive controls over the sector." information and digital innovators. This is absolutely the wrong approach for the United States. »

Thierer told Ars that "the problem with the European Union's technology regulation model is that it leaves very little room for innovation to happen, as entrepreneurs are preemptively stifled by layers of complicated and time-consuming paperwork. Innovators are essentially treated as guilty until proven guilty in the EU,” making it harder for European tech companies to dominate global markets.

Even darker, Biden's apparent urge, Thierer said, to adopt the EU's "disastrous model of top-down, authoritarian tech governance" could inadvertently pave the way for China to continue to increase its outsized influence in the technological sphere. This, Thierer said, would pose risks to America's global competitive advantage and collective national security, risks Biden seems acutely aware of given TikTok's seemingly unstoppable popularity.

The past failures of bipartisan bills cracking down on Big Tech

Biden said in his op-ed that US regulations must change because "the risks Big Tech poses to ordinary Americans are clear." He wants Congress to help him set clear limits on the data that can be collected, establish controls to prevent the spread of abusive and illegal content, and define "fairer rules of conduct" to allow more competition and of online innovation.

The stifling technological innovation in the United States is a possible result of overtaking any...