Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat in the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday said he expects there to be large bipartisan support in Congress to institute new social media regulations.
“Depending on how we framed it, I think we’d have an overwhelming majority,” Warner, D-Va., said at a conference on digital privacy in Washington sponsored by the Atlantic magazine. “I think there is a high chance that people realize that the days of the wild, wild west are over, that there needs to be some guardrails.”
Warner suggested some possible ideas on how to regulate social media platforms include mandating the labeling of automated social media accounts, legally requiring companies to take down websites and pages that promote violence, and making personal data from one company to another portable.
At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Sept. 5, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, appeared to welcome to the idea of labeling automated accounts, but noted that technical challenges must be overcome as some accounts can be programmed to behave like humans. He assured that there would be “massive shifts” in how Twitter operates.
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Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook agreed at the same hearing that Facebook was obligated to take down violent content.
Google failed to send a top executive for the hearing
Warner said, “We’ve already had serious followup meetings since our hearing on what substantive policy might look like.” The Senate Intelligence Committee, according to Warner, is working on a social media report that may include a “menu” of options for Congress to take into consideration.
Lawmakers on both sides are critical of social media companies and their efforts to deal with fake information. Democrats are looking to prevent another episode of the Russia meddling that took place in the 2016 presidential election, and Republicans have taken aim at the platforms for discriminating against conservative content.
Warner is cautious of taking the measures as far as Europe. He thinks it is possible, however, to regulate the platforms while adhering to Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1996, which grants technology companies immunity from what their users post on their websites.
In an interview with Bloomberg after the conference, Warner said he doesn’t expect major legislation until next year, but some ideas could be implemented sooner.
