Rodgers Sees 'Big Tech' Accountability a Top Priority if GOP Takes House

“Holding Big Tech accountable” will be one of House Commerce Committee Republicans’ top priorities if their party wins a majority in the chamber in the November election, ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said during a Thursday Punchbowl News event. “We need to hold Big Tech accountable” in a bigger way than has happened during this Congress, Rodgers said: She supports “narrowing [Communications Decency Act] Section 230 protections, especially for the larger companies” that have been “bad actors,” so “they can be held accountable” for censorship. Rodgers touted Republicans’ Big Tech Censorship and Data Task Force and language in House Commerce’s stalled (see 2209010066) American Data Privacy and Protection Act (HR-8152) that “would protect” personal information for users under age 17. The GOP also aims to ensure “small companies and innovators can still have access” to a “free internet” so “they can compete,” she said. Rodgers cited TikTok and Snapchat as among the worst actors in the tech space. She cited TikTok’s “impact on kids” and the “amount of data” that app collects that’s “being stored in China or used in China.” She criticized Snapchat over instances in which young people have had access to drugs, often laced with fentanyl, using the app (see 2110260070). Snapchat and TikTok didn’t comment. Rodgers said her shorter-term goals include ensuring language to temporarily extend the FCC’s spectrum auction authority past Sept. 30 makes it into a planned continuing resolution to fund the federal government past that date (see 2209090053). The House already “did our work” by passing the Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624), which would renew the FCC’s authority for 18 months (see 2208090001), she said: “It would be unfortunate” if the agency’s existing authority expires and “I don’t believe anyone wants to see that” happen.