If Congress doesn’t bring fairness to big tech, will do it with executive orders: Trump

Washington DC [USA], July 29 (ANI): Ahead of the antitrust hearing, US President Donald Trump said that he has taken up the task of bringing fairness to the big technology companies which the Congress till now has failed.
“If Congress does not bring fairness to big tech, which they should have done years ago, I will do it myself with Executive Orders. In Washington, it has been ALL TALK and NO ACTION for years, and the people of our Country are sick and tired of it!” Trump tweeted.
The heads of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook will be testifying on antitrust law on Wednesday before a House Judiciary subcommittee.
According to The Washington Post, the hearing is expected to be a broad review of the tech giants’ business practices — from the way they handle online content to the treatment of their workers.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will be facing questions from lawmakers who believe that Amazon had previously misled the committee about the inner-workings of its online marketplace.
Meanwhile, Apple, Google and Facebook will be facing lawmakers who have heard from a range of competing companies and digital experts, who say Silicon Valley is too big and powerful, harming new online players and resulting in higher prices or worse service for consumers, The Washington Post reported.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the tech executives will be testifying from the West Coast while some members of Congress attend the hearing in person.

Trump asks federal regulators to examine social media, free speech: White House

Washington DC [USA], July 29 (Sputnik/ANI): The Trump administration has asked US federal regulators to determine whether current internet laws protect social media companies from being sued for altering or otherwise censoring free speech, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.
“On Monday, the Department of Commerce, as directed by President Donald J Trump’s executive order on preventing online censorship, filed a petition to clarify the scope of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. The petition requests the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clarify that Section 230 does not permit social media companies that alter or editorialise users’ speech to escape civil liability,” the statement said.
The move comes after President Trump repeatedly accused social media and internet firms of unfairly censoring conservative views. He issued his executive order on May 28, after Twitter began placing warning labels on some of his tweets. (Sputnik/ANI)

Trump says US looking into banning TikTok

Washington DC [USA], July 29 (Sputnik/ANI): President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the US government is thinking about imposing a ban on Chinese video-sharing application TikTok.
“We are looking at TikTok,” Trump said when asked about possibly banning the Chinese application. “We are thinking about making a decision.”
Earlier in the day, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the US government was carrying out a national security review on TikTok and that his department would advise Trump what, if any, action he should take against it later this week.
The move came just before CEOs from tech giants Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook began testifying before the House judiciary committee over antitrust issues.
“We are going to be watching the hearings today very closely. There is no question that what the big tech companies are doing is very bad,” Trump added before jumping on a helicopter for a trip to Texas.
Earlier in July, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration was considering a ban on access to the TikTok application over privacy concerns. The social network claims user data is safe and not shared with Chinese authorities. Meanwhile, Beijing has called on Washington to stop using government mechanisms to pressure Chinese companies. (Sputnik/ANI)