Watch Bennet’s Speech HERE
Washington, D.C. — In case you missed it, yesterday on the Senate floor, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet addressed the power of Big Tech, social media, and artificial intelligence (AI) and called for a Federal Digital Platform Commission to regulate digital platforms to protect consumers, promote competition, and defend the public interest.
On the rise of digital platforms, Bennet said:
“[I]n two decades, a few companies — less than a handful, really — have transformed much of humanity’s daily life: how we amuse ourselves; how we discover; how we learn; how we shop; how we connect with friends and family and elected representatives; how we pay attention; how we glimpse our shared reality.
“This transformation is a staggering testament to American innovation, and we can all think of a dozen ways that platforms have improved our lives…”
“But this dramatic shift from our analog to our digital human existence has never been guided and it has never been informed by the public interest. It has always been dictated by the unforgiving requirements of a few gigantic American corporations and their commercial self-interest.
“And what are those interests? To make us better-informed citizens? To make us more productive employees? To make us happier people? Of course not. It’s to turn a profit and protect their profit through their own economic dominance. And they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.”
On digital platforms’ harmful effects on teen mental health, Bennet said:
“As our children retreat into a digital world of someone else’s making, they pay for it. They’re paying for it with less sleep and exercise and time with their friends…. And all of this has contributed to an epidemic of teen anxiety, to depression, and to loneliness, especially among teenage girls. Today, girls who use social media heavily are two to three times as likely to say they are depressed compared to those who use it often or not at all.
“Since the introduction of smartphones and social media, we’ve seen a dramatic and unprecedented rise in depression among Americans under the age of 25. And to be fair, I’m not saying social media is the only cause of this, but as the father of three daughters who have grown up in its shadow, I know it’s played a role.
“Kids are in despair in our country… I see this crisis of teen mental health everywhere I go in Colorado. Parents tell me about how social media has undermined their children’s sense of well-being, and especially girls’ body image and sense of self.
“A teenager told me that, quote, the electronic bullying follows me home. There is no escape, she said, at any hour, at any day. I felt the panic of a parent who can’t fix it and make it better.”
On digital platforms’ impact on American democracy and national security, Bennet said:
“When I first joined the Senate, it was around the time of the so-called Twitter revolutions in Egypt, in Libya, in Tunisia that we then heralded as the Arab Spring. At the time, people in Washington, and around the world, hailed social media as a powerful tool for democracy.
“And it didn’t take long, though, for tyrants to use those tools against democracy. The dictatorships who once feared social media soon harnessed it for their purposes — to track opponents, to doxx critics, and flood the zone with propaganda.
“Vladimir Putin knew this better than most. He saw the vast and unregulated power of social media over our democracy and he wielded social media as a digital Trojan horse to inflame our division and undermine trust in our democracy. And the damage afflicts us to this day.”
On Majority Leader Schumer’s leadership on AI, Bennet said:
“I’m very grateful to Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, for his remarks earlier today. I completely agree that we need to chart a responsible course between promoting innovation in AI and ensuring the safety of our children and our democracy.
“And while I think a dedicated expert agency is the best solution, and I believe others will come to that judgment as well, I welcome the debate that we’re going to have on this.
“And I’m the first to admit I don’t have a monopoly on wisdom on anything, but certainly on this. But whatever we do, we cannot accept another 20 years of digital platforms transforming American life with no accountability to the American people. We’re still coming to grips — to terms – with the harm from 20 years of unregulated social media…I shudder to imagine what our country will look like if we allow the same story to work its way out with AI.”
On the need for Congress to establish a Federal Digital Platform Commission to regulate digital platforms, Bennet said:
“Today, we have no dedicated entity to protect the public interest and we’ve been powerless as a result. And that’s why, Madam President, last year I introduced a bill to create a Federal Digital Platform Commission and I reintroduced it earlier this month with our colleague Senator Welch from Vermont.
“And we essentially proposed an FCC for digital platforms — it’s not really more complicated than that — an independent body with five Senate-confirmed commissioners empowered to protect consumers, to promote competition, and to defend the public interest and the public’s interest.
“The commission would hold hearings, conduct research, pursue investigations, establish common-sense rules for the sector, and enforce violations with tough penalties. And most important, the agency would finally put the American people in a negotiation with digital platforms that have amassed vast power beyond our imagination and over the American people’s lives and the lives of our children.
“Previous congresses knew they never had the expertise to approve or disapprove new drugs, for example. We don’t have a debate on this floor about that, because we knew that expertise better lies with the FDA.
“We don’t write the safety guidelines for airlines on this floor, either. We have a commission that will do that.
“Why would we expect Congress to be able to regulate technologies that are moving at quantum speed like AI? It’s not possible.”
Background
Bennet has strongly advocated for youth online safety, data privacy, and improved protections for Americans using emerging technologies and digital platforms. Last month, Bennet reintroduced the Digital Platform Commission Act, the Oversee Emerging Technology Act, and the ASSESS AI Act to better protect Americans in the digital era.
Video of Bennet’s remarks on the Senate floor is available HERE.