Warren, Jayapal Target Big Tech’s ‘Revolving Door’ at Commerce Department
Big Tech’s digital trade agenda “threatens” consumer privacy, worker safety and anti-disinformation efforts, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., wrote Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Thursday. They requested information about a “revolving door” of high-level hirings between the…
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Commerce Department and Big Tech and the potential impact on global digital trade negotiations. They said the unethical practice of hiring high-level staff from tech and allowing them to influence trade deals behind closed doors hurts workers and consumers. They cited potential impacts on negotiations for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. “We are concerned about the role of these and similar individuals in shaping digital trade policy because Big Tech’s digital trade agenda threatens protections for consumer privacy and worker safety and efforts to combat discrimination, misinformation, and disinformation,” they wrote. The department didn’t comment. Locking rules into the IPEF that don’t respect worker rights and privacy would repeat the same mistakes made in past trade agreements, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said during an American Economic Liberties Project livestream Thursday: “The only thing worse than having a human boss is having an algorithmic boss,” which is the case at Amazon, “one of the richest companies in the history of humanity. “You would think” workers at the company would have a chance to “live out the American dream.” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a prepared statement for the event: “We know that corporations will continue to exploit loopholes and craft the rules in their favor.” Both Khanna and Brown cited potential impacts in IPEF negotiations.