Wyden Sticks It to Biden (for Big Tech)

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The bipartisan China bill that passed the Senate is mostly cause for celebration. But buried in the bill is a provision inserted by Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, the senator from the state of Techmonoplia.

Wyden’s provision uses U.S. trade law to punish other countries that have the effrontery to regulate Big Tech with regard to worker rights, consumer privacy, or anti-monopoly measures. These would be defined as restraints of trade and be subject to trade investigations and sanctions.

Basically, Wyden took a provision of the 1974 Trade Act known as Special 301, allowing unilateral U.S. action against trade violations. This provision has been largely moribund, except for a special ploy that Big Pharma got enacted in 1984 under Reagan, which requires regular investigations by the U.S. trade rep and possible penalties in cases where any foreign nations dare to regulate pharmaceuticals.

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Now Big Tech wants the same special treatment as Big Pharma, and Wyden is doing his best to deliver it. (It’s a fitting pairing—the two most predatory of U.S. industries.)

What’s bizarre is this rider is attached to a bill directed at abusive practices on the part of China. But Wyden’s measure applies to the whole world and does little to address Chinese censorship.

The special protection for platform monopolies is also at odds with the Biden administration’s emerging strategy of reining in the abuses of Big Tech. Yesterday, the administration designated the amazing Lina Khan as chair of the Federal Trade Commission, knowing full well that her top priority is to extend antitrust principles to the platform monopolies such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

The Senate bill still has to pass the House. There is a chance that the offending provisions could be rejected on the House floor, but Wyden hopes to make them even more of a sweetheart measure for Big Tech when the bill goes to conference.

Wyden, from Oregon, is supposed to be some kind of liberal, and on some issues he is. But Wyden is the best water carrier the platform monopolies have in Congress. With just 50 senators in the Democratic caucus, we’ve all been worried about the havoc wreaked on Biden’s agenda by Joe Manchin. He’s not the only one.

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