The Big Story: White House executive order threatens bedrock Internet law. President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday targeting “censorship” by online companies, a dangerous and misguided move that threatens to undermine the bedrock law that has allowed Internet platforms of all sizes to grow. The directive came after Twitter added fact-checking labels to several of President Trump’s tweets about mail-in ballots earlier this week.
The executive order targets Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a vital framework that provides Internet companies of all sizes with liability protections when it comes to hosting and moderating user-generated content. Section 230 is especially vital to startups, which would not be able to exist if they were legally held liable for all of the content their users create and share. The president's directive would push the Federal Communications Commission and other federal agencies to reexamine the scope of Section 230.
While President Trump has previously threatened to take action against social media companies, the directive is seen by many as a politically motivated—and legally dubious—response to Twitter’s moderation efforts. Several Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), also announced plans this week to introduce legislation removing Section 230 protections from Twitter because of the company’s decision to flag the president’s tweets.
In a statement, Engine criticized the politically motivated executive order. “Contrary to the apparent motive fueling the executive order, dismantling Section 230 would not only increase the legal risk of hosting any kind of political speech—likely leading to some platforms banning all such content from their sites—it would actually make platforms like Twitter and Facebook more powerful by imposing untenable legal costs that will fall disproportionately on smaller competitors,” Engine Executive Director Evan Engstrom said in the statement.
Policy Roundup:
House and Senate to negotiate on FISA reauthorization. The House and Senate voted to hold formal negotiations on legislation to reauthorize portions of the government’s federal surveillance program after President Donald Trump threatened to veto the House measure. The Senate passed legislation—the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act—earlier this month, and House leadership agreed to vote on a measure from Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) that would have barred the FBI from collecting Americans’ online search histories and browsing data without a warrant. The measure fell apart, however, after Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) helped draft the amendment and signaled that the bill would still allow for the warrantless collection of Americans’ data if it was relevant to foreign investigations. Earlier this week, Engine joined a letter calling for House leadership to prohibit the warrantless collection of Internet browsing histories and searches as part of the FISA reauthorization bill.
House bill scales back PPP loan requirements. A bill that would have eliminated the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) rule requiring companies to spend 75 percent of PPP loan funds on payroll expenses was scaled back before passing the House yesterday. Rather than force the administration to remove the requirement that Congress did not originally impose, the bill now lowers the ratio requirement to 60 percent. While enabling companies to spend 40 percent of loan funds on other business costs is an improvement, as Engine noted in comments on the PPP rules, it may not reflect the needs of many startups.
Bipartisan bill would invest $100 billion in tech research. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)—along with Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.)—introduced legislation to bolster the country’s technology leadership by expanding the National Science Foundation, creating a new Technology Directorate, and investing $100 billion over a five year period to boost research into emerging technologies. The Endless Frontier Act would focus on expanding investments and research in critical tech sectors—including automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning—and would authorize the use of $10 billion to create at least 10 regional technology hubs across the country.
House Democrats introduce bills to prohibit targeted political ads. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) introduced legislation that would prohibit political campaigns from microtargeting their online ads to users “on any basis other than the recognized place in which the individual or group resides.” The new bill comes after Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) officially introduced a similar measure—the Protecting Democracy from Disinformation Act—earlier this week that would limit political ad targeting to location, age, and gender.
Trump administration soliciting public comments for national 5G strategy. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced that it is seeking public comments on the White House’s implementation plan for a national strategy to secure 5G networks. The request comes after the Secure 5G and Beyond Act, which was signed into law in March, called for public feedback to help guide the development of the government’s 5G security strategy.
Effectively narrowing the digital divide. Despite efforts to expand Internet services across the United States, federal officials are concerned that the Federal Communications Commission’s use of incorrect data on connectivity across the U.S. will limit the effectiveness of additional broadband funding. The FCC is moving ahead with a $16 billion rural broadband auction later this year to narrow the digital divide, although the reliance on faulty broadband data for the auction is causing widespread concern that the money will not effectively address rural access concerns.
Startup Roundup:
Startups using emerging tech as part of COVID-19 response. As Americans continue to confront the challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, startup founders are doing everything they can to support efforts to respond to the pandemic. We spoke with two startup founders who are working to leverage emerging technologies—including nanotechnology and automation—for the public good.
