Today we have come up with Joe Biden big tech policy that Trump has spoiled. Joe Biden has been elected President Elect of the United States and his vision on technology can have a very significant impact. While the mandate of Donald Trump has been characterized by the conflict with Huawei and China, Biden’s position regarding networks and large platforms is diametrically opposite.
This is what Joe Biden thinks about the most relevant issues in the technology sector, from the regulation of the ‘Big Tech’ to what the role of 5G, facial recognition or the NSA should be . It is still too early to know if the President-Elect will end up imposing his position, but it is useful to know what path he intends to follow.
“I’ve never been a big Zuckerberg fan”
Joe Biden and the Democrats have a particular fight against Facebook and the ease of these platforms to spread disinformation. In an interview with the New York Times, Biden explained that “I’ve never been a big Zuckerberg fan. I think it’s a real problem.”
Regarding Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which protects platforms from liability for the content they host , Biden has been openly critical and advocates “immediate reform.”
“He is spreading falsehoods that they know to be false, and we should establish similar standards to what Europeans are doing in relation to privacy,” explains Biden to the NYT, in relation to the campaign of ‘ Biden’s secret emails ‘ executed on social media by Trump’s team.
“From my point of view, I have opined that we should not only be concerned about the concentration of power, but that we should be concerned about the lack of privacy and that they are exempt, which you are not exempt. [The Times] cannot write. something that you know is false and be exempt from being sued. But you can. The idea that it’s a tech company is that Section 230 should be repealed, immediately repealed, number one. For Zuckerberg and other platforms “(Joe Biden, New York Times ).
On the regulation of Google, Amazon and big tech
During his tenure as vice president of the Obama administration, Biden was critical of the Silicon Valley giants. A stance that he will foreseeably maintain.
Matt Hill, a Biden representative, explains that “many big tech giants and their executives have not only abused their power, but have misled the American people, damaged our democracy and evaded any form of responsibility.”
Last October and under the Trump administration, the United States Department of Justice sued Google for abuse of a dominant position. One of the big challenges facing the Biden administration will be antitrust reform, but so far Biden has not spoken in one direction. On breaking up companies like Facebook, Biden explains that it is “something we should look at very carefully” and that it was still “premature” to make a final judgment.
“What I am suggesting is that some of the things that are happening are simply wrong and require government regulation. And it has happened every time there has been a great technological advance in the humanities since the 19th century, and this requires it” (Joe Biden , New York Times).
As described by the Financial Times, Biden has hired Jessica Hertz (ex-Facebook advisor) and Cynthia Hogan (ex-Apple VP of government affairs) for his transition team. Also Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, has collaborated with Biden’s campaign and is rumored about his presence in a new White House task force dealing with the regulation of big technology.
Big Tech: In defense of the Neutrality of the network
Experts like Chris Lewis, CEO of Public Knowledge, believe that with Biden, net neutrality will once again be a priority for the FCC (‘Federal Communications Commission’). However, unlike other Democratic candidates such as Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden has not spoken publicly on the issue.
In response to CNET, a communications officer for Biden’s campaign confirmed that the President-Elect was a strong advocate of net neutrality, just as he was while he was Obama’s vice president. However, experts like Evan Greer, director of ‘Fight for the Future’ express their doubts about Biden’s close relationship with executives from Comcast, a company that has lobbied against this regulation.
Last July, a joint unity initiative between Biden and Bernie Sanders expressed the following about the FCC, pointing out that Biden’s position would be clearly in favor of net neutrality.
“Democrats will restore the clear authority of the FCC to take strong enforcement action against broadband providers that violate the principles of net neutrality by blocking, prioritizing or other measures that create artificial shortages and raise prices for consumer service. vital “(Biden-Sanders, Unity Task Force)
Strong investment in technologies such as 5G
Joe Biden promises a $ 300 billion “Made in all of America” Research and Development program over the next four years to create jobs and “ensure global leadership in the most critical and competitive new industries and technologies. ” These technologies include electric vehicles, lightweight materials, artificial intelligence, and 5G. Interestingly, next in the official document of his program he talks about China’s leadership in precisely this technology.
Evercore analysts say “we would not expect a Democratic administration or a Democratic FCC to make drastic changes to spectrum tech policy [for 5G]. The focus would remain on making new spectrum available for 5G deployments.”
“Expand broadband, or wireless broadband through 5G, to all Americans,” explains Biden’s program. “High-speed broadband is essential in the economy of the 21st century,” says Biden’s team. Among the measures proposed is an investment of 20,000 million in infrastructure, working together with the FCC to increase the number of suppliers and promote a new Digital Equity Act.
“New rules” for the relationship with China and Huawei
During the election campaign, Biden answered on numerous occasions about the relationship with China, without specifying details. Their position is that the Trump negotiations have “hurt the Americans” and they believe that “new rules” and “new processes” are needed to establish the US relationship with other countries. A relationship that should follow “international standards”. The trade war with China has been one of the hottest spots of Trump’s tenure and it is unclear what it will be like with Biden.
“I think the biggest threat to the United States right now in terms of breaking our security and our alliances is Russia. Second, I think the biggest competitor is China” (Joe Biden, CBS News).
In July, Joe Biden promised to ban US companies from “inciting repression and supporting the surveillance state of the Chinese Communist Party,” referring to the Hong Kong demonstrations. As described by Bloomberg, last February, Biden expressed his position in favor of prohibiting the use of Huawei network equipment in the United States, without specifying what his influence will be in the rest of the countries.
“Only God knows what they are doing with the information they are getting here. Then, as president, I will dig into it. I will get cyber experts to give me the best solution to deal with it” (Joe Biden, New York Times)
Biden has said that “aggressive commercial enforcement actions against China” must be taken, but requesting coordinated efforts with other countries. It is more aggressive in relation to American intellectual property, which Biden sums up as an “assault on American creativity.” It offers no further details, except that “foreign efforts to steal American intellectual property must be confronted.”
“If China has its way, it will continue to steal their technology and intellectual property from the United States and American companies. It will also continue to use subsidies to give its state-owned companies an unfair advantage and an advantage to dominate the technologies and industries of the future. The way The most effective way to meet that challenge is to build a united front with US allies to tackle China’s abusive behavior and human rights violations. ” (Joe Biden, Foreign Affairs)
Barney Frank, a Democratic politician, explains to the Asia Times that Joe Biden will try to “de-escalate the technological battle” with China and “adopt a softer position”, but it is not clear to what extent the management of the ‘Entity List’ and the relationship with Huawei.
“We have never been a part of the trade war, nor is it our intention. If they want to include Huawei as a part, it is their issue. No matter the result, it does not affect us, we will continue on our way,” said Pablo Wang , Director of Consumption of Huawei Spain, when asked if a change of administration would affect them.
TikTok: “a cause for genuine concern”
Last September, Joe Biden expressed his position after the Trump administration’s attempt to block TikTok and Wechat. Joe Biden viewed TikTok as a “cause for genuine concern” and promised to review the security risks surrounding the app should he be elected.
“I think there is real concern that TikTok, a Chinese operation, has access to more than 100 million young people, especially in the United States of America” (Joe Biden, Reuters).
“Similar to what Europeans are doing in privacy”
Joe Biden during the campaign has expressed his opinion on the problem of technology companies and social networks. He has asked them to “make concrete promises about how they can ensure that their algorithms and platforms do not empower the surveillance state.”
“We should set standards similar to what Europeans are doing in relation to privacy” (Joe Biden, New York Times).
The President Elect will also need to establish a new NSA director. As early as 2006, then-Senator Biden expressed concern about NSA espionage. A position that to this day has continued to defend.
“I don’t have to listen to his phone calls to know what he’s doing. If I know every single phone call he made, I can determine each person he spoke to. I can get a pattern about his life that is very, very intrusive. The real question here is: What do they do with this information they collect that has nothing to do with Al Qaeda? And are we going to trust that the President and Vice President of the United States are doing the right thing? Don’t count on me on that “(Joe Biden, Fox News).
When Edward Snowden leaked information about the NSA in 2013, the then vice president explained that “there would be consequences” if foreign countries offered the leaker asylum.
Unlike other Democratic candidates, Joe Biden has not spoken out on a facial recognition block. So did Kamala Harris, Vice President-Elect, who instead of a total lockdown advocated “working with stakeholders, including civil rights groups, technology groups, and law enforcement, to institute regulations and protections to ensure that technology used by federal law enforcement, such as facial recognition and other surveillance, does not increase racial disparities or other biases. It would also invest federal money to incentivize states and localities to do the same. “