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In the wake of Congress, the White House unveiled six principles aimed at framing the operation of digital giants. The Biden administration is waiting “comments from tech companies”very active in lobbying.
The White House in Washington (United States). © Getty — Lucky Photographer/iStock
Despite the maneuvers of Gafam, who do not hesitate to spend tens of millions of dollars on lobbying, Washington is advancing its pawns to better regulate their activity. In the wake of the US Congress, the White House set out this Thursday, September 8 six principles to frame their operation, reports Reuters. Destined for “improving competition and accountability of technology platforms”they were revealed after Biden administration officials met with digital experts to discuss “the damage caused by technology platforms and the need for greater accountability”.
Some of the principles the US executive wants to enforce include promoting competition in technology, enacting strong federal privacy protections and stronger online protections to protect children, and canceling special legal protections for large technology platforms. Algorithms, which crystallize many tensions, are also in the sights of the Biden administration, which wants better transparency regarding these “black boxes” of platforms and content moderation, or even the end of algorithmic decision-making. discriminatory.
Washington faces intense lobbying from digital giants
To justify the establishment of these guidelines, the White House felt that the United States needed “clear rules of conduct to ensure that small and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs can compete on a level playing field”. “These principles are the culmination of months of administration work and engagement with many stakeholders”, added White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. And to add: “We look forward to hearing feedback from technology companies.”
Because for their part, Amazon, Google and others are stepping up their lobbying campaigns to derail possible antitrust legislation. In the first six months of the year, US tech giants spent $35.3 million on lobbying, up 15% from the first half of 2021, according to Bloomberg. These behemoths spent $17.3 million in the second quarter, putting the technology industry ahead of other sectors, such as the pharmaceutical field.
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, announced nightmare of Gafam
Among the texts that worry the Gafam the most, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, an American version of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). And for good reason: this new legislation aims to prevent them from promoting their own products and services on their platforms to the detriment of the competition. This text must apply to companies whose market capitalization exceeds 550 billion dollars and which have more than 50 million monthly active users, which therefore automatically includes the Gafam.
In this context, the latter are lining up tens of millions of dollars to torpedo the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, a text already supported by the Biden administration. Despite the counter-offensive of the big digital groups, American parliamentarians, like the Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar, are optimistic about the adoption of this bill.