Commentary: Senator Marsha Blackburn is Doing What Other Lawmakers Aren’t

by Aaron Gulbransen

 

Initially, many of us welcomed the advent of companies like Facebook and Twitter. They helped us reach out to people we hadn’t spoken to in years and served as a way to get our news every day. But, as time went on, Big Tech has become a menace to the American people. For years, they have been stealing peoples’ data and selling users’ information online.

Internal Facebook materials reviewed by the Wall Street Journal show the social media company knows how incredibly harmful Instagram is, particularly to teenage girls. Yet, Facebook has downplayed the issue in public, including in front of Congress. Even worse is that anyone who has downloaded the TikTok app, owned by the Chinese tech firm ByteDance, might as well have a Chinese government spy looking over their shoulder, since it is believed that the Chinese Communist Party can access the data on phones that download this app. How many of our nation’s kids have downloaded the TikTok app on their phones?

The bad news doesn’t stop there. Various tech giants have monopolized the market. Google is responsible for 90 percent of all internet searches, making it a monopoly. Apple is under investigation by the Department of Justice for antitrust violations. And, we just learned that prior to Elon Musk’s takeover, Twitter gave the government access to virtually all of the inner workings of the company, including users’ private Twitter Direct Messages. Of course, we learned from the Twitter Files the lengths to which companies like Twitter go to censor conservative speech and content.

As a whole, lawmakers in Washington have dragged their feet when it comes to solving the multitude of problems posed by Big Tech. However, I am particularly impressed by Senator Marsha Blackburn’s work in tackling Big Tech and fighting to protect Tennesseans data online. Her efforts have shown that she is committed to bringing change to this important arena. Senator Blackburn led the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act last fall to introduce protections to keep our kids safe from online dangers. The Senator’s legislation also called on social media companies to make things more transparent on their platforms for parents and kids. Moreover, the legislation allows minors to safeguard their information and turn off addictive aspects of social media products.

Senator Blackburn has also done great work in specifically protecting kids from online sexual exploitation. She cosponsored the REPORT Act this year, which would make several necessary reforms to the way in which child exploitation incidents are reported. Among them, it would mandate that internet companies report all child sexual exploitation materials on their sites to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) CyberTipline or face stiffer penalties. Senator Blackburn’s legislation would also force companies to additionally report all sex trafficking of children to the NCMEC.

As a longtime resident of Tennessee, I remember Senator Blackburn’s leadership in reforming Big Tech back during her days in the House. In 2018, then-Rep. Blackburn sponsored the Ray Baum’s Act which sought to boost internet access for veterans and reformed mapping methodology for mobile coverage. And, in 2016, Blackburn’s legislation, the BOTS Act, was signed into law by President Obama. The BOTS Act prevented ticket scalpers from using software to purchase an extremely large number of tickets, therefore giving ticket consumers a fair chance to buy tickets at face value.

We need a leader who will protect our kids online and take on Big Tech’s predatory moves. Having been at the forefront of tackling Big Tech for many years now, Senator Blackburn is the lawmaker most committed to taking action and getting needed reforms done. I applaud her work, and I hope she continues to crack down on these monopolistic companies that are causing harm to our kids and threatening free speech online.

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Aaron Gulbransen, Executive Director of the Tennessee Faith & Freedom Coalition. Previously, Gulbransen was a reporter at The Tennessee Star.
Photo “Senator Marsha Blackburn” by Senator Marsha Blackburn.