Following midterm victories that included flipping safe Republican strongholds like Texas, Democrats now possess the committee gavels and subpoena powers necessary to interrogate technology executives. Silicon Valley had previously enjoyed a hands-off regulatory approach from the Trump administration, benefiting from halted tech investigations and the non-enforcement of a divest-or-ban law against TikTok. While passing major legislation remains difficult with Trump still in the White House, lawmakers intend to probe industry issues, including a $24.5 million Google legal settlement and lenient cryptocurrency oversight. These inquiries will also use upcoming defense and budget negotiations a…
Key points
Congressional Democrats plan to use subpoena powers and budget negotiations to aggressive…: Congressional Democrats plan to use subpoena powers and budget negotiations to aggressively investigate technology industry operations.
Lawmakers will closely scrutinize controversial administration actions, including cryptoc…: Lawmakers will closely scrutinize controversial administration actions, including cryptocurrency leniency and a $24.5 million Google legal settlement.
Although substantial tech legislation remains unlikely under Trump, upcoming congressiona…: Although substantial tech legislation remains unlikely under Trump, upcoming congressional inquiries could expose major firms to future legal liabilities.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
When Donald Trump began his second term as president, Silicon Valley gratefully embraced moral nihilism. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and more collectively donated millions to Trump’s inauguration fund to ensure his favor in a new era of gangster tech regulation. Meta overhauled its content policy to allow calling gay people mentally ill and women property. Elon Musk started throwing Nazi salutes — yes, allegedly, but he would soon be posting nonstop about protecting the white race from extinction, so that’s the most fragile of fig leafs.
The fight for tech accountability starts now
Trump is still in office, but the era of gangster tech regulation needs to end.
Trump is still in office, but the era of gangster tech regulation needs to end.
As of mere months ago, this was working out pretty well for them. The Trump administration took a mostly hands-off regulatory approach, particularly in the burgeoning field of AI. It decided to simply not enforce a divest-or-ban law against TikTok (something that was originally Trump’s own idea!), leading TikTok to thank Trump by name in its app. A…
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