This is why Google is in Trump’s sights along with Facebook, Amazon and Apple
The planned Justice Department lawsuit against Google may be the government's biggest legal offensive to protect competition from the case against Microsoft nearly 20 years ago
A few weeks after the presidential elections in which Donald Trump and Joe Biden are pitted, the US administration, together with Parliament and the Authority, is trying to close investigations on US technology giants. While the Department of Justice has proposed a new piece of legislation to limit the protection of civil liability for technology platforms, as well as taking a step forward in the antitrust lawsuit against Google.
TRUMP'S MOVES
As the Independent pointed out, Trump is moving against Big G to "win the support of state attorneys general across the country." Furthermore, the president is pushing his campaign against Google "by advertising the limits to legal protections for social media platforms".
The planned Justice Department lawsuit against Google may be the government's biggest legal offensive to protect competition from the case against Microsoft nearly 20 years ago. Congress and consumer groups accuse Google of abusing its domain in online search and advertising to stifle competition and increase profits.
"For over a year, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have carried out lengthy and in-depth antitrust investigations into large tech companies, verifying whether or not Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple had harmed competition, stifled innovation or otherwise. harmed consumers. And a bipartisan coalition of 50 US states and territories, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, announced a year ago from the steps of the Supreme Court that they were investigating Google's business practices for 'potential monopoly behavior', "he said. highlighted the Independent.
Now, about 40 days before the presidential election, "the Justice Department appears to be getting close to legal action against Google and is soliciting the support of the state attorneys general" with Trump appealing to his political base to try to involve conservatives against Silicon Valley. For this reason, the US president "will meet on Wednesday in the White House with a group of Republican attorneys general to discuss how to protect consumers from social media abuse," the newspaper continues.
STOP THE LEGAL PROTECTION AGAINST SOCIAL MEDIA
Along with the antitrust push, the Department of Justice has asked Congress to cancel legal protections for online platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter: the proposed changes would remove some of the fundamental safeguards that have defended companies from legal liability for what people post. on their platforms, contained in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in force for nearly a quarter of a century.
THE MOVE OF THE GENERAL PROSECUTOR
US Attorney General William Barr, Axios says, has promised to send a Section 230 proposal to Congress and added that he wants to start the lawsuit against Google by the end of September. “Although efforts to change Section 230 have garnered bipartisan support, Congress is concerned about the election, the pandemic and the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Any Google lawsuit will likely take years of work. The fate of these projects will almost certainly be determined in the next administration ”, reads Axios.
The move by the Department of Justice to publish the text of its proposed law to renew the rules of Section 230 is unusual, however. In detail, the new text would eliminate legal immunity when the platforms facilitate criminal activity or do not report illegal behavior, or when the platforms do not "consistently" follow their principles of content moderation. The proposal would also allow civil cases to be brought against platforms promoting the exploitation of minors and terrorism.
THE ALARM OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL GROUPS
The industry giants have clearly raised the alarm. "In the midst of a pandemic and an election, undermining the tools social media companies use to respond to problematic content such as disinformation is more dangerous than ever," said Matt Schruers, president of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, a group representing major tech companies such as Google and Facebook -. The US government should allow efforts to address nefarious content and behavior, not hinder them in the misguided pursuit of political gain. "
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/primo-piano/ecco-perche-google-e-nel-mirino-di-trump-assieme-a-facebook-amazon-e-apple/ on Sun, 27 Sep 2020 04:18:37 +0000.