A bipartisan, bicameral effort in Congress is looking to help the Federal Communications Commission reinstate a new rule requiring broadcasters to do more due diligence when identifying foreign-sponsored programming and FCC Democrats are on board with the effort.

Not only would it restore a mandate to check two government databases, but broadcasters would have to check anywhere else the FCC thinks they should go to establish the identity of foreign programming.

After the FCC unanimously passed a new rule saying broadcasters had to check two government databases (the Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act website and the FCC’s U.S.-based foreign media outlets reports) to ensure that such programming was identified to viewers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated that new rule, saying the agency didn't have the authority to require that extra step.

The FCC had said broadcasters needed to check the two federal sources to determine a sponsor's identity, which went beyond the 1934 Communications Act requirement to ask employees and advertisers for the information necessary to establish sponsorship.

Also: Court Nixes FCC Double Verification Mandate

Just last week FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a new proposal to toughen the foreign-sponsorship identification rules without the mandatory database check, hoping that will pass muster with the courts.

But Monday (Oct. 17), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced House and Senate versions of a bill, the Identifying Propaganda on Our Airwaves Act, that would give the FCC the statutory backing to require broadcasters to check those databases or, for that matter, “any additional source of information the Commission designates that may enable the licensee to verify whether the matter broadcast by the radio station was paid for or furnished by a foreign governmental entity.”

“By giving the FCC the authority to require disclosure of this foreign propaganda, our bipartisan bill will help stop this practice and improve programming transparency on TV and the radio,” Schatz said.

“The legislation grants the FCC the authority to require broadcasters to check sources that actually identify foreign agents and their shell companies when entering into and renewing airtime lease agreements for sponsored programming on the radio,” Blackburn said.

“The principle that the public has a right to know the identity of those who solicit their support is a fundamental and long-standing tenet of broadcasting,” Rosenworcel said. "Consumers deserve to trust that public airwaves aren't being leased without their knowledge to foreign governments. I appreciate the leadership of Senators Schatz and Blackburn and Representative Eshoo for their efforts to increase transparency and ensure consumers know who is behind the information transmitted over public airwaves."

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said: “The fact that foreign governmental entities are covertly broadcasting on our television and radio stations is alarming. The American people have a right to know the identity of those using the public airwaves in order to be informed and make their own decisions in separating truth from disinformation.”

The FCC had argued that double verification fell within reasonable diligence and its general authority to prescribe appropriate rules and regulations. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) had argued broadcasters had told the court that the FCC’s decision to make broadcasters affirmatively investigate whether programming — including ads and infomercials — was being paid for by foreign entities was an arbitrary and capricious, unconstitutional response to a “phantom” problem, pointing to a past court decision that statutory language imposes no burden of “independent investigation” by licensees.

The new bill includes that statutory language does impose the “burden” of independent investigation.

“We are closely reviewing this legislation," said NAB spokesperson Alex Siciliano. "NAB and several other broadcast organizations have worked to ensure the rules are focused on the handful of broadcasters that air foreign government-sponsored programming, without creating burdens for the vast majority of broadcasters that do not air this content. As we have made clear from the beginning, we share the goal of ensuring that the public understands when it is watching or listening to foreign propaganda.” ■

In another shot across the bow at Big Tech, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) have teamed up on a new bill to protect children online, citing "Big Tech’s repeated failures to protect children & teens from serious dangers on their platforms."

The Kids Online Safety Act is billed as a comprehensive, bipartisan effort stemming from hearings into social media companies spearheaded by those legislators, who have signaled that Congress would step in to rein in the platforms where it came to protecting children over issues like body image, eating disorders, substance abuse, and suicide in particular and mental health in general.

They said the bill will make social media platforms put children's interests first "by default," requiring independent audits and public scrutiny by academics, as  well as allow for disabling "addictive features," and opting out of algorithmic recommendations.

It also creates an affirmative duty for social media platforms "to prevent and mitigate harms to minors."

At a press conference on the bill, Blumenthal painted an unflattering portrait of Big Tech: ""What we’ve heard in these months at our hearings and from direct talks with parents is harrowing, haunting stories of heartbreaking loss, destructive content driven to children, addictive dark places, emotional rabbit holes, all the result of Big Tech driving toxic content at kids using black box algorithms that are little understood by parents or children."

According to the senators, the bill:

1. "Requires that social media platforms provide minors with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features, and opt out of algorithmic recommendations. Platforms would be required to enable the strongest settings by default.

2. "Gives parents new controls to help support their children and identify harmful behaviors, and provides parents and children with a dedicated channel to report harms to kids to the platform.
Also: Blumenthal Says Facebook Weaponizes Childhood Suffering

3. "Creates a responsibility for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate harms to minors, such as promotion of self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and unlawful products for minors (e.g. gambling and alcohol).
 
4. "Requires social media platforms to perform an annual independent audit that assesses the risks to minors, their compliance with this legislation, and whether the platform is taking meaningful steps to prevent those harms.

5. "Provides academic and public interest organizations with access to critical datasets from social media platforms to foster research regarding harms to the safety and well-being of minors."

Blumenthal and Blackburn said the bill was been endorsed by Common Sense Media, the American Psychological Association, the 5Rights Foundation, American Compass, the Internet Accountability Project, American Principles Project, and the Digital Progress Institute. ■

A spokesperson for the Consumer Technology Association said Thursday that a quartet of legislators still plan in-person appearances at CES in Las Vegas.

A number of exhibitors have canceled in-person attendance due to the dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks.

Scheduled to appear on a panel are Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.).

Asked Thursday if that was still the case, the CTA spokesperson said yes, citing the association's earlier announcement of a record number of senators making the trip.

Also scheduled to speak at the show is House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), father of former acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn and whose endorsement was a key to then-candidate Joe Biden's successful presidential run.

Asked if he still planned to make the trip, press secretary Derrick Hope would only say: "Check back after the holidays." ■

The Senate Consumer Protection Committee lined up three new targets Tuesday (Oct. 26) in its ongoing punishment of social media for its impact on children and teens and signaled they could take a pounding similar to Facebook's recent unpleasantness on the Hill.

That came in a hearing entitled “Protecting Kids Online: Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.” Testifying were Jennifer Stout, VP of global public policy, at SnapChat owner Snap Inc.; Michael Beckerman, VP and head of public policy, Americas, for TikTok; and Leslie Miller, VP, government affairs and public policy, for YouTube.

Also: Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube Agree to Capitol Hill Grilling

To make sure nobody missed the latest potential Big Tech beatdown, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), chairman of the Subcommittee, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), ranking member, had issued a press release in advance of the hearing pointing out who was testifying and where to stream the proceedings.

In his opening statement, Blumenthal left no doubt about his concerns with edge providers in general. He said Facebook's revelations had led to a "definite and deafening" drumbeat of revelations, and of calls for action from Washington, and not just targeting Facebook. He said that there is there is ample evidence to launch investigations into social media platforms.

Also: Sen. Blumenthal: Facebook Chronically Ignores Internal Alarms

And while he said this hearing was about continuing to educate the committee about "this crisis," it was also about reading those platforms a riot act. Blumenthal said it was the first time TikTok and Snap had appeared before Congress and he appreciated it, but that was about the last encouraging word from him.

Sen. Blumenthal said that Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube were part of the crisis, and along with Facebook were sending the message to American parents: "You cannot trust Big Tech with your kids," and Big Tech can't say to parents it is their job to be the gatekeeper.

Like Facebook, he said, those platforms' algorithms exacerbate downward spirals for teens, fuel hate and violence, amplify depression, anger, and anxiety, and do so because those emotions hook kids on their platforms. He said that was why there was a drumbeat for accountability to "parents, the public, Congress, investors, shareholders, the SEC and other agencies.

Having read the witnesses testimony, Blumenthal said their argument was that "we're not Facebook." But he said that was not a defense, and that the Facebook bar was "the butter," and it should not be a race to the bottom.

Sen. Blumenthal, one of the legislators branding Big Tech with the Big Tobacco label, did say that there was a distinction between the two given that tobacco was inherently dangerous, while social media could be beneficial with proper safeguards.

Blackburn continued the punishment. 

She said for too long social media platforms had been allowed to promote and glorify dangerous content and that she had heard from parents, teachers, and mental health professionals all with the same question: "How long are we going to let this continue, and what will it take for platforms to crack down on this dangerous material."

She said children as young as nine had died after doing viral challenges on TikTok and girls had been lured into sexual relationships on SnapChat. Then there was the videos of people slitting their wrists on YouTube. "You are parents, how can you allow this," she asked. "Does it matter to you?" She answered her own question, suggesting they loved to attract young audiences with content fed to them with algorithms.

Both Blumenthal and Blackburn said social media were driving kids and teens down dark rabbit holes.

Stout said SnapChat is not a "rabbit hole" because it curates its content, including by choosing trusted content partners.

Miller said that YouTube prohibits content glorifying eating disorders, though eating disorder content could be on the platform if it is people sharing their stories around the issue.

Blackburn also called out TikTok for its Chinese connection and collection of data, from keystrokes to geolocation to facial recognition to audio from smart speakers, that could be used by China to surveil U.S. citizens as the Chinese government does to its own citizens.

The witnesses all said they had protections in place for young people, including tools for parents; that they have age limits and remove too-young user accounts when they find them or inappropriate content when they find it; that the majority of users had positive experiences with their platforms, and that they have all done internal impact research and either had, or would, share it publicly.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) clearly appeared unpersuaded. She said that she did not think that kids and democracy should be collateral damage to the profit-seeking of social media.

SnapChat's Stout said that the platform's architecture "was intentionally designed to empower people to express a full range of experiences and emotions with their real friends, not just the pretty and perfect moments." But she also said the company "takes into account the unique sensitivities and considerations of minors when we design products."

TikTok's Beckerman said that company's goal is "providing an age-appropriate experience for our younger users." When pressed by Blackburn, he also said that the company does not share data with the Chinese government and he had research to prove it.

YouTube's Miller said the company has "clear policies that prohibit content that exploits or endangers minors on YouTube and we have committed significant time and resources toward removing violative content as quickly as possible."

From data privacy failures to allegedly dangerous algorithms, there is bipartisan angst and anger over a Big Tech sector once the bootstrap darlings of Capitol Hill. The latest hearing was billed as examining "how tech companies treat young audiences, including how algorithms and product design choices can amplify harms, addiction, and intrusions into privacy." The goal is to come up with legislation essentially to protect kids and young people from all that bad stuff.

The hearing, the fourth in a series on the Web and young people's safety, came against the backdrop of new criticism from the subcommittee of Facebook, driven by more documents from whistleblower Frances Haugen (the headline of a top-of-fold Washington Post front page story: "Insiders [Sa] Zuckerberg Chose Growth Over Safety").

"If TikTok, Snap and YouTube were as wonderful and responsive to concerns as their representatives asserted, there wouldn't have been any need for hearings," said Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay (formerly Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood). "Unfortunately, these platforms are plagued by the same problems as Facebook and Instagram: privacy abuses, and design features and content that jeopardize young people's wellbeing and safety. The underlying issue is a business model that prioritizes engagement and data collection over the best interests of children. That's why we need a US design code. Legislative proposals like the KIDS Act and the Kids PRIVCY Act will get us there but only if Congress acts with the urgency these issues require."

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said that Silicon Valley has been arrogant, with a "toxic undercurrent" to industry practices that "can't be ignored," and one she signaled Washington definitely wouldn't be ignoring.

Blackburn, who is a member of both the Commerce and Judiciary Committees, which divide up primary jurisdiction over Big Tech, was speaking at the Digital Empowers Summit in Washington Friday (May 10). The summit is sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Tata Consultancy Services.

Related: Klobuchar, Blackburn Ask FTC to Make Edge Investigations Public

Blackburn said that she thought Silicon Valley was beginning to figure out that with great power comes great responsibility, but suggested that was yet to exhibit itself in its privacy or content control policies.

She suggested that Big Tech needed to lose the attitude and engage with policymakers "more directly and respectfully" rather than "ducking out on hearings when called to testify."

She said the only thing Facebook has done right in the past year is to prove they can no longer self-regulate. She said she was not necessarily looking to break up Big Tech (as fellow Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-[Mass.] has proposed). But she did not rule it out, either, saying that was a conversation for another day. Today's conversation, she said, was about how Big Tech tracks and uses data via WiFi and IP addresses and Blue Tooth and more.

She said the key is for people to be able to control and own the "virtual you," which comes down to transparency and trust, which is tough given Big Tech's "unnecessarily opaque and confusing environment."

Blackburn introduced a bill, The BROWSER (Balancing the Rights of Web Surfers Equally and Responsibly) Act, back in 2017 that would help do that, she said, including designating the Federal Trade Commission as the sole enforcer of online privacy and applying the same privacy regime to edge providers as well as ISPs.

She hoped the time was now ripe for bipartisan support for such legislation.

Among other things, the bill would give users informed consent over their sensitive personal information (opt in), opt out control over less sensitive data collection and sharing, and would prohibit platforms from denying service to those who "refuse to waive their privacy rights."

Blackburn signaled that she recognized the need for legislation to balance the need to protect privacy while not harming the ad-supported internet business model that has been such an economic driver.

She has been asked to head a bipartisan tech working group in the Senate Judiciary Committee, she said, and planned to bring in business leaders to talk about privacy, censorship free speech and data protection.

Blackburn testified herself at a Hill hearing last year that an October 2017 video launching her ultimately successful Senate run--she was chair of the House Communications Subcommittee at the time, was removed from Twitter's ad platform "due to my pro-life message." It was restored, and Twitter ultimately apologized, saying it had been a mistake.

Referring to the issue generally, she said that each year "candidates have content taken down" while online sex and opioid trafficking and more "run rampant." She said Facebook and Google have been looking for new ways to convince their users they care about privacy while still mining data and boosting their stock price.

On the arrogance theme, Blackburn likened Silicon Valley giants to the iconic 60's ad men (newly immortalized in Mad Men). She said that for all the great Google product, from balloon-borne internet to kite-engendered electricity, 85% of the company's revenue still comes from advertising. She said Google may not look like a 1960's Madison Avenue ad exec, but that's essentially what it is. 

A bipartisan Senate duo has pressed the Federal Trade Commission to go public with any investigation it is conducting of Google or other edge providers given "concerns regarding potential privacy, data security, and antitrust violations involving online platforms."

That came in a letter to the FTC from Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the latter a presidential candidate joining Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in talking tough about the edge.

The senators recognize that the FTC does not usually comment on investigations, but suggested it was a "uniquely important" national issue given discussions about the conduct of Google Facebook and other edge providers.

Related: Sen. Blumenthal Says FTC Should Investigate Google

"The intensive collection and monetization of consumers’ personal data by digital platforms, as well as reported breaches of consumer data held by these companies, has raised significant questions regarding privacy and data security," they wrote. "In particular, some have expressed concern that Facebook’s recently announced plans to integrate its three messaging platforms—WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger—may lead to Facebook sharing user data between its platforms. As Congress considers legislation to enact stronger safeguards for consumers’ online privacy, we urge the FTC to use its existing authority to protect the privacy and security of consumers’ online data."

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) applauded the letter. "We have led a coalition of consumer and privacy advocates in filing a string of complaints which show that Google is endangering the privacy and well-being of children," they said. "To date, the FTC has not acted or even commented publicly on any of these complaints."