WASHINGTON—Today, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Lindsey Graham introduced a bill to create yet another wasteful government agency designed to control American tech, innovation and speech online.
The U.S. regulatory state now controls more areas of American life than ever before. Warren, Graham and anti-business activists are trying to further expand this control over us, this time through our tech, innovation and speech online. But what has made America the engine for the world—especially when it comes to tech dominance—is our permissionless innovation.
“More government bureaucracy will merely handcuff America’s growth and waste even more of our tax dollars at a time that we can least afford it,” said NetChoice Vice President & General Counsel Carl Szabo. “Global competition is more fierce than ever. We cannot sacrifice American dominance—especially on technological development—because progressives want to dismantle the free market and control who is allowed to speak online.”
Szabo continued: “This commission certainly looks like a rebranded Disinformation Governance Board, which the Biden administration tried to create to silence us online by labeling anything it didn’t like as ‘misinformation’ or ‘disinformation.’ We’ve already seen how Warren’s acolytes, like FTC Chair Lina Khan and CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, are seeking to control tech and free speech online with their incredible power. Congress must not cede more of its power and American freedom to these wasteful agencies who have little regard for the rule of law or congressional oversight.“
Throughout his presidency, Biden has already used multiple federal agencies and departments in a manner that defies constitutional law and norms. That should give policymakers pause before ceding even more power to the executive branch. But this bill would do just that—give Biden and his administration more power over the U.S. economy.
Congress should reject this proposal and instead focus on protecting consumer welfare, empowering law enforcement with the needed resources to arrest and convict bad actors committing online crimes against children, and passing a national standard for data privacy and security that protects all Americans and preempts the growing patchwork of state laws.
Please contact Krista Chavez at press@netchoice.org with inquiries.