(Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden has urged Republican lawmakers and his Democratic peers to unite to pass bipartisan bills in Congress to tackle “abuse” by big tech companies.
In a column published Wednesday on the website of the Wall Street Journal, the head of the White House says that he wants the establishment of “serious federal protections for the privacy of Americans”, including restrictions on the collection of geolocation information and health, in particular.
He also highlighted the specific risks posed to children.
“We must hold social media accountable for the experiments they conduct on our children for profit,” Joe Biden wrote, citing the bullying, violence and psychological trauma young people can face.
Elected Republicans and Democrats have opened investigations in recent years targeting the tech giants, the two camps agreeing on the idea that these groups had too much power, but remain at odds on the solutions to be delivered.
(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru and Diane Bartz in Washington; French editing by Jean Terzian)