The Democratic platform is doubling down on tech antitrust and kids online safety

While billionaires person pushed Kamala Harris to depart from President Joe Biden’s antitrust policy, the Democratic Party seems to beryllium doubling down.

The connection “competition” comes up 18 times successful the party’s 2024 platform, compared to 9 successful the 2020 version. Other cardinal argumentation areas, similar tackling junk fees and noncompetes, are mentioned respective times successful the 2024 level arsenic well, compared to conscionable 1 passing notation to noncompetes successful the 2020 document. Notably, those are areas wherever the Federal Trade Commission, led by Lina Khan — a people of ire from much business-minded Democrats similar Reid Hoffman — has been instrumental.

The level is an indication of wherever Democrats basal connected cardinal issues, which volition service arsenic an important awesome to Harris astir wherever the enactment basal is. The papers passed done committee earlier Biden decided not to tally again and, successful its contiguous form, refers repeatedly to Biden’s “second term.” According to The Associated Press, normal level committee cochair Regina Romero told delegates that, nevertheless, the level includes input from galore parts of the enactment and has a “forward-looking imaginativeness for our enactment that echoes the dependable of all.”

Even though it predates Democrats’ swap of their starring candidate, the platform, on with immoderate different aboriginal indicators, begins to overgarment a fuzzy representation of wherever Harris stands connected tech policy. So far, it’s been hard to pinpoint her circumstantial views connected topics similar antitrust enforcement and a imaginable TikTok prohibition since she’s had small inducement to stray publically from President Biden’s views.

Now that Harris is the nominee, it’s progressively tenable to presume that the Democratic Party’s level and normal lineup are a reflection of her agenda.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who is viewed by galore progressives arsenic sympathetic to concern interests, said successful a code connected the archetypal night of the Democratic National Convention that Harris would “forge an system with just competition, escaped from monopolies. Monopolies that crush workers and tiny businesses and startups.”

The 2024 Democratic level besides has a greater absorption connected protecting Americans from the imaginable harms of technology. There’s an full conception of the 2024 level dedicated to “Protecting Kids Online, Strengthening Americans’ Data Privacy, & Promoting Competition.” Harris has already travel retired successful support of the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSPA), which combines the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) with the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), a measure that passed with 91 votes retired of the Senate. The level makes wide specified authorities volition beryllium a continued priority, including different country she’s been interested successful since her clip arsenic authoritative and senator: combating nonconsensual intimate images.

“Democrats volition walk bipartisan authorities to support kids’ privateness and to halt Big Tech from collecting idiosyncratic information connected kids and teenagers online, prohibition targeted advertizing to children, and enactment stricter limits connected the idiosyncratic information these companies cod connected each of us,” the level says. “And, the Administration has strengthened ineligible protections for survivors and victims of non-consensual intimate imagery, including those generated by AI, gathering connected the national civilian origin of enactment established nether the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization of 2022.”

The level again calls for caller laws promoting contention and privateness successful tech, echoing goals championed by a acceptable of bills that passed the House Judiciary Committee successful 2021. “Important policies see promoting interoperability betwixt tech services and platforms, allowing users to power and transportation their data, and preventing ample platforms from giving their ain products and services an unfair vantage successful the marketplace,” the papers says. It besides calls for stronger information privateness protections and “fundamentally” reforming Section 230, which shields platforms from being held liable for their users’ posts and for contented moderation.

There’s besides a conception connected “Seizing the Promise and Managing the Risks of AI,” that discusses combatting biases perpetuated by the exertion and banning “voice impersonations.” In 2020, the exertion was lone mentioned arsenic portion of a broader treatment astir exertion and US competitiveness successful the 2020 platform.

Republicans’ 2024 level has conscionable 3 references to “competition,” 2 of which notation to protecting Americans from “unfair Foreign Competition.” Their committedness connected AI is to “repeal Joe Biden’s unsafe Executive Order that hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas connected the improvement of this technology.” They committedness successful exchange, “AI Development rooted successful Free Speech and Human Flourishing.”

“Our level reflects our values, and aft years of tech companies manipulating our economy, endangering radical seeking reproductive care, and making the clime situation worse, it’s wide that Democrats are present committed to holding them accountable,” Sacha Haworth, enforcement manager of the Tech Oversight Project and seasoned Democratic run strategist, said successful a statement. “This is successful ample portion owed to President Biden and Vice President Harris’s enactment and willingness to basal up to tech monopolies implicit the past 4 years, and we look guardant to continuing this enactment with a aboriginal Harris-Walz Administration.”