House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is ready to take on tech companies, saying in a tweet Monday night that the era of self-regulation is over.
The tweet comes only a few days after distorted videos of the speaker caught fire on social media causing an uproar among lawmakers who requested platforms, like Facebook, take down the false videos. YouTube removed it, Facebook added a new menu directing users to additional coverage, and Twitter let one stand on President Donald Trump’s own account.
Pelosi said: “Today, everything is connected to the Internet; it is the foundation on which our economy, democracy & attention rest.“
“Unwarranted, concentrated economic power in the hands of a few is dangerous to democracy especially when digital platforms control content. The era of self-regulation is over,” she added.
Pelosi — whose district, CA-12, covers San Francisco and a number of tech headquarters rarely makes policy comments that run the risk of dividing her caucus. Yet, it appears that both Republicans and Democrats are ready to take a closer look at Silicon Valley’s market dominance, after the House Judiciary Committee announced Monday that it would be launching a bipartisan investigation into companies like Facebook and Google.
The antitrust sub-panel chair, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) hinted at a probe of this scale for a few months, sending letters to agencies like the Federal Trade Commission prompting officials to open their own investigations into Facebook’s market power.
“The committee will begin a long overdue investigation to determine if dominant digital platforms have harmed Americans in the marketplace & the voting booth,” Pelosi said.
