Legislation would combat influence on social media

WASHINGTON >> The Senate’s bestknown tech magnate and top Intelligence Committee Democrat has identified a set of 20 legislative proposals to combat the proliferation of disinformation campaigns on social media platforms, as the panel prepares to scrutinize the practices of such companies in hearings over the next weeks.

The proposals from Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., compiled in a white paper first reported on Monday by Axios, include initiatives to hold platforms legally liable for keeping fake audio and video off their sites, to give users ownership of their data and require their consent before a third party can access that information, and to commit new funding to the Federal Trade Commission and media literacy campaigns.

With no must-pass policy bills on the horizon and the Senate set to be occupied by budget fights and a Supreme Court confirmation in the fall, it is unlikely that any of Warner’s more ambitious proposals will become law before the midterm elections in November. But the proposals are a potential blueprint for intelligence committee lawmakers who, in just a few days, will challenge experts, and in September, will grill top executives from social media companies like Facebook and Twitter to identify where the federal government should intervene to prevent such platforms from being used to further fraudulent and exploitative campaigns. The Senate Intelligence Committee has yet to hold a public hearing with these officials, though Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before other House and Senate panels during the spring.

Warner’s proposals stop short, however, of advocating to downsize or undercut the core business model of the social media companies.