Big Tech

Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas expressing deep concern about the agency's new Disinformation Governance Board and demanding it be dissolved. Senator Hawley cited as a particular concern DHS’s appointment of Nina Jankowicz, an anti-free speech activist with a long history of partisan attacks, to lead the board. "I confess, I at first thought this announcement was satire. Surely no American Administration...

Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, calling for a comprehensive public audit of Twitter's past censorship practices. Senator Hawley writes, "In recent years, Twitter has intervened in American discourse with an increasingly heavy hand, attempting to shape the information environment for overtly partisan reasons. Algorithms didn’t make those calls; employees did. And at this point, the American people deserve to know the...

Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, demanding explanations for a recent academic study finding filtering that Gmail's spam filtering algorithm was significantly more likely to mark Republican fundraising emails as spam than Democrat fundraising emails. The letter comes amid ongoing debates over free speech around the sale of tech giant Twitter and censorship issues that have persisted in the tech industry for years. In his letter to...

Today Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding answers on an investigation which found that drug dealers openly operate on Instagram and sell illicit substances that are easily accessible to teenagers as young as 13. Senator Hawley wrote, "The findings of the report are horrifying, especially as our nation confronts a drug overdose epidemic of historic proportions and an alarming deterioration of teenagers’ mental health precipitated by...

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues led by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will introduce a new bill to crack down on Big Tech monopolies that abuse their power to favor their own products.  The American Innovation and Choice Online Act will set clear rules to protect small businesses on dominant platforms and strengthen the ability of antitrust enforcers to hold such platforms accountable. Senator Hawley said, “For too...

Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced new legislation to make social media companies liable for bodily or mental harm their products cause to children. Senator Hawley’s bill would close the Section 230 loophole protecting these companies and allow parents to sue and obtain damages from social media companies wholly or partly responsible for harm to users under 16. Senator Hawley said, “Facebook has long had evidence of the harmful effects their products have on children but covered...

During today’s Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee hearing, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) grilled Steve Satterfield, Facebook’s Vice President of Privacy & Public Policy, about the safety of platforms like Instagram and Facebook for teenage users. Satterfield repeatedly declined to provide clarity on internal research from Facebook showing the negative effects their services have on users.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai demanding an explanation as to why ads placed by Live Action and Choose Life Marketing have seemingly been censored.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent letters to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey demanding answers on their collusion with the Biden administration to suppress free speech. Senator Hawley said the revelations raise questions as to whether the platforms are operating as arms of the federal government.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called out the Senate’s proposed $10 billion bailout for Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, included in a bill to increase U.S. competitiveness over China.