Kamala Harris hasn’t said a lot about tech policy, but here’s what we know

Vice President Kamala Harris is each but definite to go the Democratic statesmanlike candidate. She was abruptly catapulted to frontrunner presumption for the Democratic statesmanlike information aft President Joe Biden ended his re-election run and endorsed her for the position, and present key power-brokers successful the enactment person publically backed her.  If elected, Harris would beryllium a president with roots successful California’s Bay Area —  the bosom of the tech industry. 

Yet contempt her ties to this region, Harris is mostly a cipher erstwhile it comes to tech policy. As vice president, she is inherently connected to each argumentation of the Biden administration, but it’s hard to untangle which parts she would proceed and which she would change. Her cardinal absorption areas arsenic vice president — including artificial quality — and her interests arsenic a senator, and earlier that, arsenic California’s lawyer wide and San Francisco’s territory attorney, supply a fistful of insights into what she mightiness prioritize if she should go president.

We cognize wherever she stands connected climate, we person immoderate consciousness of however she feels astir privacy, and we person a full array of tantalizing statements astir AI, but determination are a wide scope of cardinal questions that she has yet to beryllium asked oregon has successfully avoided answering. She remains an enigma erstwhile it comes to tech antitrust and the TikTok ban. And she has yet to talk straight to the issues that astir interest the moneyed donor people of Silicon Valley, specified arsenic crypto regulation.  

“I deliberation this is simply a large accidental for the Democratic Party to bash a small spot of introspection and accidental — wherever person they mislaid definite communities?” Box CEO Aaron Levie, who often donates to Democratic candidates, told The Verge successful an interview. He said the enactment has seen “missed opportunities” with the tech and concern community, similar successful pushing for taxes connected unrealized gains, and failing to update the high-skilled workers’ H-1B visa program, and hopes for “a spot of a reset connected immoderate of either the argumentation initiatives, oregon conscionable the the code and the connection from the party.”

For those successful the tech industry, Harris’ argumentation stances are not peculiarly well-known, says task capitalist and governmental strategist Bradley Tusk. A run manager for Mike Bloomberg’s 2009 mayoral campaign, Tusk says that’s mostly due to the fact that astir tech regularisation occurs astatine the authorities level, “so it’s not similar she had this way grounds successful the Senate, simply due to the fact that they conscionable don’t bash precise much.” That means there’s a batch to beryllium learned successful the adjacent fewer weeks connected wherever Harris plants her feet connected a assortment of tech issues. 

The Verge took a look into however the vice president’s inheritance and legislative past could pass what a Harris presidency could mean for tech — the industry, workforce, and its interaction connected consumers.

Antitrust

Many of the caller legislative efforts to rein successful the powerfulness of the largest tech companies gained momentum aft Harris near the Senate. She was ne'er 1 of the much outspoken politicians connected antitrust argumentation to statesman with. During the 2020 election, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was the campaigner retired beforehand calling for the breakup of Big Tech companies. Naturally, successful 2019, The New York Times asked Harris point-blank whether firms similar Amazon, Facebook, and Google should beryllium breached up. Instead of giving a nonstop answer, she steered the speech to privateness regulation.

Still, she’s near unfastened the anticipation of enforcement. Also that year, she told CNN that “we person to earnestly instrumentality a look at” breaking up Facebook. She besides called the level “essentially a inferior that has gone unregulated.”

The Biden administration’s antitrust argumentation — arsenic enacted by the enforcers helium appointed, specified arsenic the Federal Trade Commission’s Lina Khan and the Department of Justice’s Jonathan Kanter — has been aggressive, possibly adjacent unprecedentedly so. It’s not wide whether a Harris medication would support that up. The question she dodged successful 2019 volition beryllium progressively hard to debar present that she’s facing down a self-proclaimed tech antitrust advocator successful Republican vice statesmanlike nominee Sen. JD Vance.

Whichever way Harris chooses, she’ll find immoderate friends successful Silicon Valley, which itself has divided connected the contented of antitrust. (The astir nonstop beneficiaries of antitrust policy, aft all, are the rival companies.)  “There’s not a meal that I’ve been astatine wherever 3 radical tin hold connected an antitrust policy,” Levie said. “I person friends that are the astir ardent supporters of capitalism, of escaped markets, that besides similar what Lina Khan does to support Big Tech successful check.”

Privacy

When avoiding the Times’ question astir breaking up Big Tech successful 2019, Harris said that “the tech companies person got to beryllium regulated successful a mode that we tin guarantee and the American user tin beryllium definite that their privateness is not being compromised.” She added, “My archetypal precedence is going to beryllium that we guarantee that privateness is thing that is intact.”

The connection sounds strong, but it doesn’t really accidental overmuch astir what substantive policies she volition endorse. She and different legislators grilled Mark Zuckerberg successful a nationalist proceeding successful 2018 successful the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytic privateness scandal, but her adversarial comments astatine the clip were much oregon little successful enactment with the tenor of the full hearing.

Non-consensual images and intersexual exploitation

There is 1 country of privateness successful which Harris has had a strong, substantive record: authorities and enforcement targeting the sharing of non-consensual images. But this circumstantial contented has not materialized into a much generalized argumentation presumption connected information privateness — it has alternatively been an hold of her enactment astir online enactment trafficking. 

Her enactment successful this country predates her introduction to Washington, DC. While she was California lawyer general, Harris secured a blameworthy plea implicit a hacking strategy to bargain intimate images disconnected of people’s Google accounts. 

Non-consensual images and enactment trafficking are not the aforesaid thing. But legislative and prosecutorial enactment directed astatine either person tally into the aforesaid issue: Section 230, a ineligible liability shield for online platforms. While Section 230 does not immunize an idiosyncratic from spreading nonconsensual images oregon sexually exploiting someone, erstwhile it comes to the modern era, the astir sweepingly almighty action is to intervene astatine the level of the platform, whether that level is simply a juggernaut similar Google oregon a nonprofit similar Wikipedia. The instauration of carve-outs to Section 230 for some nonconsensual images and intersexual exploitation follows much oregon little the aforesaid exemplary with the aforesaid stakeholders and the aforesaid ineligible issues.

Notably, Harris pressed transgression charges against the apical executives of Backpage.com, a personals website that hosted advertisements for enactment work. After becoming a senator, Harris besides voted successful favour of FOSTA-SESTA, a instrumentality excluding enactment trafficking from Section 230. (FOSTA-SESTA was, successful part, a absorption to Backpage.) As with each laws implicating speech, determination are concerns that FOSTA-SESTA was excessively broad. Sex workers and their allies person argued that the instrumentality puts them successful much danger, since uncovering clients online allowed for a grade of vetting and accusation sharing with others successful the manufacture that’s little readily disposable now. The contention implicit FOSTA-SESTA apt isn’t over. 

Artificial intelligence

Companies and labs processing precocious AI are facing increasing regulatory scrutiny owed to the technology’s associated risks, including privateness issues, occupation displacement, bias and discrimination, deepfakes, AI-powered weapons, and the arguable imaginable of artificial wide quality (AGI), which could marque these systems arsenic intelligent arsenic their quality creators. To mitigate unforeseen risks, tech leaders similar OpenAI CEO Sam Altman person urged the authorities to modulate AI.

Harris agrees, calling for “legislation that strengthens AI information without stifling innovation” successful an AI Safety Summit successful the U.K. past November. At the summit, Harris said that they should “consider and code the afloat spectrum of AI hazard threats to humanity arsenic a full arsenic good arsenic threats to individuals, communities, to our institutions, and to our astir susceptible populations.”

“And erstwhile radical astir the satellite cannot discern information from fabrication due to the fact that of a flood of A.I.-enabled mis- and disinformation, I ask: Is that not existential for democracy?” Harris said astatine the U.K. summit.

Levie said the existent medication hasn’t had “major missteps successful AI,” though helium wishes they’d travel retired powerfully successful favour of unfastened root AI. But helium sees it arsenic much of a forward-looking issue. “I deliberation the interest you could person is, the adjacent 4 years are the astir important, probably, for AI regulation. And truthful to immoderate extent, you bash person to judge that the enactment has the wherewithal to marque truly bully decisions,” helium said.

TikTok

In April, the U.S. enacted a instrumentality that could prohibition the fashionable societal media level TikTok arsenic soon arsenic January (unless its genitor company, ByteDance, decides to merchantability it off). Even though President Biden signed the bill, Harris told reporters that a prohibition was not the goal.

“We request to woody with the proprietor and we person nationalist information concerns astir the proprietor of TikTok, but we person nary volition to prohibition TikTok,” Harris told ABC News successful March. She besides added that TikTok has “very important” benefits, similar serving arsenic an income generator and “allowing radical to stock accusation successful a escaped way.”

When asked astir her circumstantial views connected TikTok itself during an on-stage interrogation astatine The New York Times DealBook acme past November, Harris declined to comment.

Crypto

The Biden medication has had a less-than-rosy narration with the crypto manufacture owed to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler’s stance connected however it should beryllium regulated. Tusk said that helium expects Harris volition amended relations with the sector, adjacent if it’s conscionable by putting successful her ain SEC seat prime alternatively of Gensler.

Meanwhile, Republican nominee and erstwhile President Donald Trump and his moving mate JD Vance person indicated they would beryllium unfastened to a little regulated situation for crypto — Trump is adjacent slated to talk astatine a crypto league implicit the weekend. This deregulatory cognition has reportedly attracted $160 cardinal successful run contributions to the Republican enactment from the crypto industry, arsenic good arsenic nationalist backing from the likes of salient task capitalists Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz. (Their firm, a16z, has a $4.5 cardinal crypto fund.)  

Immigration and H-1Bs

The close has already zeroed successful connected Harris’s tenure arsenic alleged “border czar,” adjacent though her existent relation was focused connected diplomacy with Central America. But migration is overmuch much than a borderline issue, and Harris would apt proceed Biden’s policies with regards to ineligible immigration and visas. A cardinal involvement of the tech assemblage is successful maintaining oregon expanding the H-1B visa program, which lets high-skilled workers stay successful the state to enactment successful highly specialized jobs. As a senator, Harris worked with Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), to present the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, which would “remove per-country caps for employment-based greenish cards,” according to a property release. “We indispensable bash much to destruct discriminatory backlogs and facilitate household unity truthful that high-skilled immigrants are not susceptible to exploitation and tin enactment successful the U.S. and proceed to lend to the economy,” she said successful a connection astatine the time. She has not spoken connected the contented much recently.

Climate

Harris is overmuch much of a known quantity erstwhile it comes to clime and vigor policy. For that reason, she has already garnered enactment from immoderate major biology groups and business leaders successful cleanable energy. That includes the League of Conservation Voters that rates lawmakers based connected their biology way records, and has fixed Harris a 90 percent connected her scorecard. 

The Biden medication managed to walk legislation marking the biggest investments successful cleanable vigor and clime yet successful the US. And the Environmental Protection Agency nether Biden and Harris has introduced sweeping caller contamination regulations for cars, power plants, and industrial facilities. All successful all, the measures could alteration the mode Americans get around, however their homes are built, and however they get their energy.  

Nevertheless, the US is inactive not connected way to conscionable clime goals it acceptable nether the Paris statement of slashing greenhouse state emissions by astatine slightest 50 percent by the extremity of the decade. Donald Trump could effort to hitch existing clime policies disconnected the books. 

Harris is expected to support those policies, of course. And there’s adjacent immoderate hope among clime advocates she could spell farther than Biden to ace down connected fossil fuels. Harris has taken a tougher stance, for instance, connected fracking — going arsenic acold arsenic filing suit against the Obama medication to halt offshore fracking backmost erstwhile she was California’s Attorney General.

Tech donations and connections

Having spent astir of her governmental vocation either successful California oregon representing it, tech and amusement companies were among the apical contributors to Harris’ 2020 statesmanlike campaign. According to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks governmental donations and groups unneurotic organizations’ governmental enactment committee (PAC) spending and worker donations, the University of California was the apical contributor to her run astatine $209,00. Harris raised $144,00 from Alphabet, $137,000 from Disney, and $134,000 from AT&T.

Harris, who was calved successful Oakland, has immoderate idiosyncratic connections successful the tech manufacture arsenic well. Her brother-in-law, for example, is Uber’s Chief Legal Officer Tony West. She besides attended the wedding of Napster co-founder and erstwhile Facebook president Sean Parker, according to The Washington Post. 

None of these ties oregon donations elucidate what a Harris presidency means for tech. Despite being from the area, she is not a Silicon Valley politician; contempt being 1 of those starring the astir palmy propulsion to whittle down the immunity shield of Section 230, she is not an anti-tech politician, either. 

But successful an predetermination twelvemonth that saw some the transition of the TikTok ban and the once-in-a-generation DOJ antitrust suit against Apple, determination are tech argumentation questions that Kamala Harris cannot debar forever. The GOP summons has already articulated its presumption — coherent oregon not — on some of those issues. It volition beryllium Harris’ crook soon enough.