- You know, there are moments regarded as tipping points.
This is a moment of reckoning for this business.
- In recent hearings on social media's impact on teenagers,
the bipartisan calls for action were nearly unrecognizable
in today's political climate.
- We have done nothing significantly passed.
The time for action is now. - Let's get to work.
We've got some things we can do here.
- If there's this level of agreement
that something must be done to reform internet policy,
what happens now?
First, expect more hearings on the matter.
Representatives from Snapchat, YouTube,
and TikTok will be up next.
- Senator Richard Blumenthal,
chair of the Senate's Consumer Protection subcommittee,
also sent Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
a letter asking him to testify.
And then there's the bills in the works.
- We will be moving towards legislation updating
the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, for example,
that protects kids from unwanted intrusion and data collection,
a new measure called the KIDS Act
that gives parents more tools to protect their kids,
and a measure that will stop these tech companies
from using these powerful algorithms
to push destructive content at kids.
- Algorithm use by social media companies
is shaping up to be one specific area lawmakers want to target.
Senator John Thune, Republican minority whip,
has a proposal that would require companies
to be more transparent
about the calculations they use to show users specific content.
- Big tech companies use these secret,
opaque algorithms to essentially moderate the content
that people see on their platforms
and to keep them engaged for longer periods of time.
So the first provision, basically, in the bill,
is one, you have to tell people that.
You know, so people know
that they're being manipulated by an algorithm.
Two, give them an option, an opt-out, essentially,
not to get the algorithmic-manipulated content.
- Is there support? Are you getting indication
that that's something that could pass fairly quickly?
- It has pretty broad bipartisan support.
- Also in lawmakers' sights, amending Section 230,
a 1996 law that may pre-date social media,
but has nonetheless been the bedrock
for the industry's growth.
Simply put, Section 230 of US Code
says that internet companies
cannot be held liable for the content on their sites,
and it also protects a platform from lawsuits
when it removes users or other content
if that content doesn't meet the company's standards.
Democrats often focus
on amending that first protection --
-It gives these platforms
a virtual complete shield against anybody who is harmed,
and that's distinctly un-American.
-- - while Republicans are concerned
about the content moderation part of 230.
- I think there needs to be a review of Section 230,
and I have a bill -- again, a bipartisan bill,
along with Senator Schatz from Hawaii,
that essentially would require tech companies
to be transparent, to disclose their policies,
their practices when it comes to content moderation,
to give people recourse -- essentially, an appeals process.
- I know for several sessions,
there's been talk about regulating social media,
but it seems like nothing ever gets to the floor,
or at least passes the floor.
Do you see this as a different time?
- I do, and I think that in the past,
there's been that social media companies
are very influential around here,
and they work very hard on both sides, in many cases,
to discourage more regulation,
but I think in this case, what we're finding out is,
there's enough harm being caused out there.
- Is there a certain timeline that you're working on?
- I think what we'll see is,
over the next few months, it will take time,
but I think we will see strong bipartisan consensus
that we need to move forward.
- What issues have your attention?
Tell us at washingtonpost.
com/ askaccountable.