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Senator Lindsey Graham says he will soon unveil legislation to form a bipartisan Digital Regulatory Commission to crack down on abuses of power and free speech at Apple and the rest of Big Tech.
Sen. Graham (R-SC) has previously supported the controversial EARN-IT (Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act) regarding encryption. Now he has announced his intention to produce legislation that would regulate social media.
“[Big Tech]you can’t sue these people because [of] section 230 and there’s no regulation that works,” Senator Graham said in a Fox news interview. “So I’m going to unveil a digital regulatory committee that deals with social media companies like Apple and Twitter and Google.”
Apple isn’t a social media company, of course, but section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does apply to Apple in what it may or may not want to host on the App Store. Apple has its own restrictions on apps that host social media posts and requires companies to moderate content effectively.
It is known that when Google, Facebook, Amazon and the Apple CEOs came together to testify about abuses of power by Big Tech, Cook didn’t get many questions, with a lot of attention focused on Facebook, Google and Amazon.
“We need a regulatory environment to control abuses of power here,” he continued. “So I’m going to do that with Elizabeth Warren. Social media has gotten out of control [and it needs] regulated in some way.”
Senator Graham has not given further details about his intentions, or a time frame in which he plans to work on the proposed legislation.
“I think that brings both sides together,” he concluded.