The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has made his intentions clear concerning Big Tech, as he has penned an op-ed article talking about bringing improved competition in this industry. While Biden does not specifically list the individual companies, their business practices suggest that one of them is definitely Apple. To counter their market dominance, Biden proposes that Democrats and Republicans should come together in an effort to pass meaningful legislation.
Biden believes that strong bipartisan legislation should be passed to hold ‘Big Tech accountable’
Biden published his op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, stating that entities in the technology industry exploit not just user data in the U.S. but are also the reason behind polarizing opinions. He believes that Big Tech is responsible for the following:
“Some in the industry collect, share and exploit our most personal data, deepen extremism and polarization in our country, tilt our economy’s playing field, violate the civil rights of women and minorities, and even put our children at risk.”
One way to bring much-needed competition to the technology industry, according to Biden, is through strong bipartisan legislation. 9to5Mac reports that the U.S. President proposes that a federal framework talking about how technology companies such as Apple can use personal data should be established.
“First, we need serious federal protections for Americans’ privacy. That means clear limits on how companies can collect, use and share highly personal data—your internet history, your personal communications, your location, and your health, genetic and biometric data. It’s not enough for companies to disclose what data they’re collecting. Much of that data shouldn’t be collected in the first place. These protections should be even stronger for young people, who are especially vulnerable online. We should limit targeted advertising and ban it altogether for children.”
Since the issue for Biden is the lack of competition and antitrust, Apple immediately covers those categories thanks to the company’s past and present business practices. Biden wants smaller and mid-sized businesses to compete on an even playing field without giving Big Tech the opportunity to use its dominance to crush any chance of competition. Apple has been under the watchful eyes of the European Union and will be forced not just to release iPhones with USB-C ports but allow the App Store to support sideloading.
In addition, the EU might pressure technology giants like Apple and others to bring back removable batteries for easier user upgradeability. There have been a number of bipartisan antitrust bills proposed in the past, but none of them have bore fruit. Perhaps the intervention of Joe Biden might change all of that.
News Source: The Wall Street Journal
