Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reintroduced legislation Thursday to ban tech platforms from self-preferencing products (see 2208010063). Co-sponsors for the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) (S-2992) include Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Public Knowledge welcomed the bill’s reintroduction. Tech companies currently decide who “gets to compete against them, in what ways, on a playing field that they own,” said Competition Policy Director Charlotte Slaiman. “We need the fair competition requirements in the AICOA to ensure that these companies compete for users on the features we care about.” The Internet Accountability Project also welcomed the bill's refiling. President Mike Davis said: “Big Tech is crushing small businesses, stifling innovation and silencing its political opponents,” and AICOA would level the playing field.

Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., led refiling Thursday of the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (Connect) Act to make permanent a waiver of geographic restrictions on access to telehealth services, plus several other temporary rules changes allowing expanded use of the technology Congress enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Schatz and Wicker first proposed the permanent waiver in 2020 (see 2006150032). House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui and Rep. Mike Thompson, both California Democrats, filed the companion House version. President Joe Biden signed off last year on a temporary extension of the waiver as part of the FY 2022 omnibus appropriations package (see 2203100073). “While telehealth use has skyrocketed these last few years, our laws have not kept up,” Schatz said: “Telehealth is helping people in every part of the country get the care they need, and it’s here to stay.” Telehealth “is a revolutionary development in health care delivery,” Wicker said. “The internet put communications and commerce in the palm of our hand, and it is now doing the same for health care.” Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D, are among 58 co-sponsors of the Senate measure.

The Senate Commerce Committee formally set a June 22 hearing on new FCC nominee Anna Gomez and renominated Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, as expected (see 2306140076). The panel will also include FCC inspector general nominee Fara Damelin, Commerce said Thursday. Backers of a shift to a 3-2 Democratic FCC majority want the Senate to move Carr, Gomez and Starks simultaneously in hopes it will ensure all three nominees’ confirmation (see 2305220065). President Joe Biden nominated Damelin, current chief of staff for the Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General, in March (see 2303200077). The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.

House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said Thursday he plans to file legislation "in the coming months" aimed at fixing "loopholes" in existing anti-robocall statutes that "allow these calls to continue, update the authorities of our expert agencies, and empower consumers." He was "proud" in 2019 when then-President Donald Trump signed the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (see 1912310028) because of "the commonsense restrictions" the law "imposed on annoying robocalls and looked forward to it dramatically reducing them." The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous 2021 ruling in Facebook v. Duguid "undermined the very foundation of existing anti-robocalls protections, and the unwanted calls almost immediately picked back up," Pallone said: "Since then, it has been disturbing to see the volume of robocalls and texts remain high. Americans are tired of them." The top court in Duguid backed a narrow definition of what constitutes an automatic telephone dialing system under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (see 2104010063).

Bipartisan legislation introduced Wednesday seeks to block foreign access to U.S. data on apps like TikTok. Introduced by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Surveillance Act would direct the Commerce Department to identify sensitive data that could harm national security if exported. The Commerce secretary would compile a list of “low-risk countries, where data can be shared without restrictions, a list of high-risk countries where exports of sensitive data will be blocked, and create a system to issue licenses for data exports to nations not on either list.” The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.; Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Reps. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., will introduce companion legislation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee should reject a bill that would allow news outlets to negotiate with the tech industry for compensation when platforms like Google and Facebook host news content (see 2306080050), said the Computer & Communications Industry Association Wednesday. The Senate Judiciary Committee could vote on the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act at Thursday's markup, after the bill was held over for a week through standard procedure. The bill “mandates that private companies must carry speech in direct violation of the First Amendment,” CCIA President Matt Schruers said in a statement. “This bill will also hinder the fight against misinformation by forcing digital services to publish and pay producers of dangerous content. Congress should not be interfering in the marketplace of ideas by taxing links and creating cartels.” NAB and the News/Media Alliance pushed for passage (see 2303310047). The bill passed committee 15-7 last Congress.

The House Commerce Committee is scheduling briefings with Meta to understand how Instagram algorithms allegedly drive users to a “vast network of pedophilic content,” Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and ranking member Frank Pallone wrote the company Wednesday. Staff is meeting with researchers from Stanford and the University of Massachusetts to understand who uncovered the activity, they said, citing Wall Street Journal reports. Meta “must be transparent about why this egregious content is allowed on its platform and why its own algorithms promoted it for users to view and engage with,” they said. “It is clear these companies cannot be trusted to protect children on their platforms.” The company didn’t comment.

Uber and Lyft haven’t done enough to prevent their platforms from being used for human trafficking, a bipartisan group of senators wrote the companies Wednesday. They wrote the letter in response to Uber’s announcement it will allow minors to use the service without accompanying adults. Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; and Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., signed. “Reports from survivors, advocates, and local law enforcement agencies indicate that apps like Uber and Lyft are increasingly used as vehicles for exploitation,” said Blackburn’s office. The letter said they're “concerned that the measures taken to date are insufficient to address trafficking on the company’s ride-hailing service.” The companies didn’t comment.

Artificial intelligence “should be treated with the same urgency as national security, job creation and civil liberties,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday during the first of three Senate briefings on AI (see 2306090046). Two more briefings will follow in July. Tuesday’s briefing focused on the technology’s capabilities, applications, limitations and challenges, said Schumer. The briefing included discussion from Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Antonio Torralba, who focuses on machine learning and AI decision-making. July’s briefings will focus on the near future for AI and national security implications. Schumer thanked Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D.; Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; and Todd Young, R-Ind., for their collaboration on the briefings. The Senate Human Rights Subcommittee held a hearing Tuesday on AI. Regulating the technology “out of existence” would guarantee that China wins the AI race, said ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.: At the same time, Congress should be careful about how AI technology is deployed in the absence of a federal privacy law.

Evidence suggests the FTC took politically motivated enforcement action against Twitter after Elon Musk bought the company, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote FTC Chair Lina Khan Thursday. Jordan’s letter notes Twitter reached a settlement agreement in 2021 with then-acting Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter stemming from Twitter’s “self-reported” privacy issue in 2019. The FTC didn’t finalize action against Twitter until May 2022, after Khan became chair and Musk’s plans to buy the company became clear, said Jordan: It appears Slaughter and Khan didn’t “intend to take action against Twitter until Elon Musk's impending acquisition and the political pressure campaign that followed.” The agency confirmed receiving the letter but didn't comment.