Hillicon Valley — Biden Goes After Big Tech In Antitrust Push
President Biden this week asked Congress to strengthen antitrust laws to control tech giants, which his supporters saw as a victory.
Meanwhile, the US and UK governments announced joint sanctions against seven people linked to a Russian cybercriminal group that allegedly attacked medical facilities during the outbreak.
From Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley, here's Hillicon Valley , covering everything you need to know about tech and cybersecurity news. Send your tips to Hill's Rebecca Claire and Ince Kagubara.
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Biden's push for antitrust reform was welcomed.
President Biden's anti-reform push aimed at tech giants in his speech to Congress was seen as a victory by supporters of legislation aimed at preventing companies from promoting their products and services using dominant technology.
In a roughly hour and 13-minute speech, the president called on Congress to strengthen antitrust laws to "prevent major Internet platforms from unfairly exploiting their products."
- However, the president's endorsement may do little to advance the cause — especially in a politically divided Congress — that powerful tech groups continue to oppose.
- Biden's comments were a clear indication of the bipartisan American Internet Innovation and Choice Act. The law aims to ensure that major companies do not favor their own products or discriminate against competing products. In practice, this means that Amazon cannot place its products at the top of the search results, nor can Google promote its services in the search results .
The proposal was introduced by the House and Senate Judiciary committees in the last Congress, but failed to become law last year after tech groups spent millions on a lobbying and advertising campaign to kill the legal project.
The bill's lead sponsor, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), called Biden's antitrust comments a sign of "momentum."
Read more here.
US and UK impose sanctions on Russian hackers.
The Treasury and the UK announced joint sanctions on Thursday against seven people linked to the Russian cybercriminal group known as Trickbot.
It was first found in In 2016, Trickbot is believed to have attacked hospitals and medical centers during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
The Treasury Department cited an incident in which the group launched ransomware at three Minnesota medical facilities that "disrupted computer networks and phones, hacking ambulances."
Cybercriminals, particularly those based in Russia, are seeking to attack critical infrastructure, target American businesses and exploit the global financial system, Deputy Treasury Secretary Brian Nelson said in a statement.
Read more here.
Reports of increased abuse of the LGBT community on Twitter
LGBT activists and organizations say Twitter has seen an increase in hate speech and offensive language since Elon Musk bought the social media platform, according to a new survey.
A survey by Amnesty International USA, GLAD and the Human Rights Campaign found that most LGBTQ activists and organizations say they've seen more hateful and hateful speech on Twitter since Musk bought the social media giant. Organizations say the company failed to protect the LGBTQ community from harassment.
According to a survey of 11 LGBTQ organizations and nine prominent LGBTQ figures, 60% of respondents noted an increase in abuse, and the remaining 40% said they had experienced similar abuse since Musk took office in October 2022. Respondents report a reduction in violence.
After Musk founded the company, concerns arose about the platform's treatment of LGBTQ people. He fired Twitter's global human rights team, and much of Twitter's trust and security infrastructure was destroyed.
Read more here.
China puts us in an "information war".
The Chinese government has called allegations that the US tried to spy on the recently downed balloon an "information war".
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Ning echoed Beijing's assertion that the incident was a blown balloon and that China has no intention of violating any country's sovereignty.
According to him, the US's refusal to provide an explanation to China and the conclusion that the balloon was intended for surveillance is "irresponsible" and "the US side may be part of an information war against China."
Mao's comments came as the Biden administration said Thursday it believes it is responsible for a massive surveillance program by the Chinese military that spans five continents and targets more than 40 countries.
Read more here.
Decorations and parts
Background: How dangerous is artificial intelligence? Fix it before it's too late
Featured Web Links:
Are we headed for an artificial intelligence disaster? (Vox/Kelsey Piper)
The report says extremists are making millions on Twitter. (The Washington Post/Taylor Lorenz)
Free speech and misinformation are at an all-time high (The New York Times/Stephen Lee Myers)
anything else
Twitter is suffering from massive outages.
Twitter experienced a major outage on Wednesday evening as thousands of users encountered error messages trying to access key features on the site.
Users have reported receiving error messages indicating that they have exceeded the social network's daily tweet limit, which is set at 2,400 individual tweets per day.
Users also reported seeing error messages when trying to use direct messages. "TwitterDown", "TwitterDMs" and "Did Twitter" were trending in the US on Wednesday night.
“For some of you, Twitter may not be working as expected. sorry for the inconvenience. We are aware of this and are working to fix it,” wrote Twitter support.
Read more here.
That's all for today, thanks for reading. Visit the Hill's technology and cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. Goodbye.
