|
The
six principles, entitled "Enhancing Competition and Tech
Platform Accountability," were released after Biden
administration officials earlier in the day met with experts to
discuss "the harms that tech platforms cause and the need for
greater accountability."
The White House said the United States needs "clear rules of the
road to ensure small and mid-size businesses and entrepreneurs
can compete on a level playing field."
"These principles are the culmination of months of work by the
administration and engagement with numerous stakeholders," White
House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. "We're
looking forward to hearing any feedback from the tech
companies."
A group of bipartisan lawmakers has introduced antitrust
legislation aimed at reining in the four tech giants -- Meta
Platform's Facebook, Apple, Alphabet's Google and Amazon.com --
that would bar the companies from favoring their own businesses
in search results and other ways. The lawmakers have said they
believe they have the 60 Senate votes needed to move forward,
but no vote has yet been scheduled.
Among issues discussed at Thursday's meeting, which included
numerous senior White House officials, District of Columbia
Attorney General Karl Racine and technology experts, were
antitrust, privacy, algorithmic discrimination and other tech
policy areas, the White House said.
The six principles include promoting technology sector
competition; adopting robust federal privacy protections, and
tougher privacy and online protections for children; rescinding
special legal protections for large tech platforms; increasing
transparency about platforms' algorithms and content moderation
decisions; and ending discriminatory algorithmic
decision-making.
"The rise of tech platforms has introduced new and difficult
challenges," the White House said, "from the tragic acts of
violence linked to toxic online cultures, to deteriorating
mental health and wellbeing, to basic rights of Americans and
communities worldwide suffering from the rise of tech platforms
big and small."
(Reporting by Diane Bartz, Nandita Bose and David Shepardson;
Editing by Leslie Adler
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
