Uber and Lyft said they're committed to safety after a bipartisan group of senators wrote the companies with concerns about human trafficking of minors (see 2306140065). Uber has partnered with experts to “provide drivers with education on how to spot the signs of human trafficking and report it,” the company said Wednesday in a statement. “Our dedicated Public Safety Team stands ready to assist law enforcement however we can with investigations.” Teen accounts have features for parental supervision and safety, including PIN verification, trip tracking for parents and access to an Uber safety line, the company said. Unaccompanied minors aren’t permitted in Lyft vehicles. The company said it has “developed safety features for ridesharing that go beyond anything that previously existed for other transportation options. These include professionally administered background checks, in-app photos of drivers and their vehicles, real-time ride tracking, 24/7 support, the ability to share your ETA, and more."

Legislation introduced Wednesday for regulating artificial intelligence shows some lawmakers are “more keen” to regulate than to “understand” the technology, NetChoice said in a statement Thursday. Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced the No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act Wednesday, as expected (see 2306090046). The legislation clarifies that Communications Decency Act Section 230 doesn’t apply to claims based on generative AI activity, “ensuring consumers have the tools they need to protect themselves from harmful content produced by the latest advancements in AI technology,” Hawley’s office said. Said NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo: “The bill would jeopardize important tools like autocorrect, content recommendations and search engines. Lawmakers shouldn’t rush to release regulations before seriously engaging with the history and functionality of AI tools, many of which have been publicly available for years."

Congress shouldn’t reauthorize Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 “without substantial reforms” to surveillance authorities, consumer advocates told the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday. The committee plans an oversight hearing Tuesday with officials from DOJ, FBI, CIA, National Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Section 702 is to expire in December. Groups signing the statement Monday included the Center for Democracy & Technology, American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Prosperity, Demand Progress, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Fight for the Future and TechFreedom. DOJ and the ODNI released declassified documents in May detailing the latest evidence of unauthorized surveillance of Americans related to FISA authority (see 2305190067).

ICANN is the “central venue supporting an open, accessible, and unfragmented Internet,” NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson told the organization’s Governmental Advisory Committee Monday. Speaking at the ICANN Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., he encouraged “all governments” to engage with the GAC to ensure the multistakeholder process continues to “succeed.” ICANN relies on NTIA for access to domain name registration information (see 2112170062). “When we come together with expert stakeholders to solve problems collectively, we enable that better world of connection,” said Davidson. “This is why the ICANN community must continue to fulfill the policy development role for the Internet’s global naming and numbering systems.”

The FTC is seeking public comment on how it can better collaborate with state attorneys general on enforcement and public education, the agency announced Wednesday. The FTC’s request for information was issued in response to the FTC Collaboration Act (HR-1766), a bipartisan bill President Joe Biden signed into law in October. HR-1766 directs the FTC to “conduct a study on facilitating and refining existing efforts with State Attorneys General to prevent, publicize, and penalize frauds and scams being perpetrated on individuals” in the U.S. The commission voted 3-0 to issue the RFI. Chair Lina Khan issued a statement with Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, saying the agency is “committed to working closely with state partners to maximize our collective efficacy in combatting unlawful business practices and protecting Americans.”

Congress should pass legislation to allow media companies to negotiate to force Big Tech to pay to carry news content, a group of Democrat state attorneys general wrote Tuesday. They wrote to Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., in support of their Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (S. 1094) (see 2303310047). Signing were AGs from Washington, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont. They called S. 1094 an “important and necessary step to addressing the challenges affecting local news organizations across the country.” Big Tech opposed similar measures advancing at the state level and in Canada and Australia (see 2306010073).

Online platforms must do more to counter fake information, European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova said Monday after meeting with signatories to the voluntary EU code of practice on disinformation. The Russian war in Ukraine opened a new chapter, as disinformation began when Russia annexed Crimea, she said. "This is not business as usual" since Russia is trying to subvert and undermine support for Ukraine and lower citizens' trust in democratic institutions: The code, however, is helping to support Ukraine to win the war. Jourova said she now wants code signers to develop a plan to implement the provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA) when it takes effect Jan. 1, since there's interplay between the legislation and the code. She said she also expects companies, especially major online platforms, to do more to address Russian and pro-Kremlin disinformation; invest significantly more in fact-checking, particularly in smaller EU countries and in all EU languages; and give researchers better access to data because it's of "strategic importance" to policymakers. Jourova also asked signers to create a separate track to discuss what they plan to do about ChatGPT and similar services, because the current agreement doesn't cover generative AI. Those talks should address how businesses that incorporate generative AI into their service will build necessary safeguards to prevent it from being used by bad actors; and how companies that provide such services can put in place mechanisms to recognize such content and label it for users. Jourova said it's a mistake for Twitter to drop out of the code because doing so will attract attention and supervision from the EU. Moreover, she said, as a very large platform, it will still have to comply with the DSA. The code now has 44 signatories, including Facebook, and YouTube, she noted.

The California State Assembly voted 46-6 Thursday to advance legislation to require Big Tech to pay media companies usage fees when carrying news content on platforms (see 2305310069). Introduced by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D), the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA) (AB-886) is expected to pass the Senate. Meta said it would remove news content from Facebook and Instagram if the bill ultimately passes. The CJPA requires news publishers to invest 70% of the profits into hiring journalists. The News/Media Alliance is “extremely encouraged to see this progress at the state level, which shows that Americans understand the importance and value of journalism to keeping their communities safe and informed and holding those in power to account,” said CEO Danielle Coffey. The Computer & Communications Industry Association supports “a thriving news media, but cannot support a link tax,” said President Matt Schruers. “Taxes on sending internet traffic from one site to another is not a sustainable business model for any party involved, and sets a dangerous precedent for governments and carriers to impose fees on users navigating the open internet.”

The U.S. and the EU are committed to limiting risks of artificial intelligence and promoting “universal human rights and shared democratic values,” officials said in a joint statement Wednesday. The Trade and Technology Council held its fourth ministerial meeting in Lulea, Sweden, Wednesday, co-chaired by European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, EC Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. European Commissioner Thierry Breton also joined. The officials said they're “committed to deepening our cooperation on technology issues, including on artificial intelligence (AI), 6G, online platforms and quantum. We are committed to make the most of the potential of emerging technologies, while at the same time limiting the challenges they pose to universal human rights and shared democratic values.” Officials will cooperate through implementation of the Joint Roadmap on Evaluation and Measurement Tools for Trustworthy AI and Risk Management, they said.

If California passes legislation forcing social media companies to pay for news content, Meta will remove news from Facebook and Instagram in the state, the company said in a statement Wednesday. State legislators are considering the California Journalism Preservation Bill, which passed at the committee level. Meta isn’t going to pay into a “slush fund that primarily benefits big, out-of-state media under the guise of aiding California publishers,” the company said. Legislators fail to recognize that publishers have willfully posted news content on their platforms and that consolidation in the California news industry happened more than 15 years ago, before Facebook was widely used, the company said.