Legislation House Democrats unveiled Thursday would remove Communications Decency Act Section 230 immunity when a platform “knowingly or recklessly uses an algorithm or other technology to recommend content that materially contributes to physical or severe emotional injury.” Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, N.J., will introduce the Justice Against Malicious Algorithms Act Friday with Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania, Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, and Health Subcommittee Chair Anna Eshoo of California. “Social media platforms like Facebook continue to actively amplify content that endangers our families, promotes conspiracy theories, and incites extremism to generate more clicks and ad dollars,” said Pallone.

Liberal and centrist Democratic factions sparred Tuesday over whether and how to trim a proposed budget reconciliation package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters she’s “very disappointed that we are not going with the original $3.5 trillion.” Telecom money included in a House Commerce Committee-approved portion of Democrats’ Build Back Better Act reconciliation bill, including $10 billion for Next Generation-911 and $4 billion for the FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund, could get trimmed or cut (see 2110010001). Senate Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona want a smaller measure of $1.5 trillion-$2 trillion. Pelosi told House Democrats in a Monday letter that to pass both reconciliation and the linked Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) by Oct. 31, “it is essential that difficult decisions must be made very soon.” Liberal congressional Democrats are “prepared to negotiate, we are prepared to compromise, but we are not going to negotiate with ourselves,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., told reporters.

The FTC should use its full authority to ensure tech companies uphold new policies created in response to the U.K.’s new children’s privacy law, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., wrote the agency Friday with Reps. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., and Lori Trahan, D-Mass. Full authority includes Section 5, they said, noting the U.K. law took effect in September. They encouraged the agency “to use every tool at your disposal to vigilantly scrutinize companies’ data practices and ensure that they abide by their public commitments.” The FTC didn't comment.

Bipartisan legislation introduced Thursday would stop law enforcement from using border search exceptions to conduct warrantless searches of Americans’ phones, laptops and other electronics devices. Introduced by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., the Protecting Data at the Border Act would provide statutory clarity, extending rights awarded in Riley v. California. Law enforcement would be required to disclose to U.S. entrants their rights before giving up online account information or before they allow access to their devices. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., is introducing companion legislation in the House.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Wednesday she hired former Communications Subcommittee lead Democrat Brian Schatz of Hawaii's tech and telecom policy aide Christianna Barnhart as subpanel senior counsel. Barnhart replaces Shawn Bone, who joins Verizon Monday (see 2109200058). Barnhart “will bring more than a decade of experience and expertise in both the public and private sectors to advance” priorities “in broadband deployment and affordability, spectrum policy,” FCC and NTIA oversight, “and other areas in telecommunications and technology policy,” the committee said in a statement. Barnhart was previously Charter vice president-regulatory affairs and an FCC staffer, including as an aide to now-acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

DOJ could use more trial attorneys and officials with substantive expertise, Antitrust Division chief nominee Jonathan Kanter told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday during his confirmation hearing. He promised to uphold the rule of law and ensure DOJ has proper access to investigatory documents. The committee will vote on his nomination and others later. Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked what Kanter would do with additional resources, citing her legislation to increase merger fees (see 2106250062). Kanter said he supports “appropriate funding” and would recommend more trial attorneys and more substantive expertise. Noting Tuesday’s hearing with the Facebook whistleblower (see 2110050062), Klobuchar asked if Kanter would support extending the same protections to civil cases granted to whistleblowers in criminal cases. Kanter said it’s extremely important that authorities have access to all relevant information. Monopolies can intimidate other companies, let alone individuals and, as a “general matter,” he supports ensuring authorities have access to the relevant information and witnesses, he said. Antitrust ranking member Mike Lee, R-Utah, cited some “disturbing trends” with antitrust law under this administration, specifically discussing the FTC’s withdrawal from the 2020 takeover guidelines, even though DOJ has retained them (see 2109150061). Lee cited the FTC reportedly asking combining parties about their environment, social and governance policies in antitrust cases and asked if Kanter would do the same at DOJ. The purpose of antitrust law is to protect competition and ESG policies unrelated to competition issues aren't related to antitrust enforcement, he said. Kanter called digital interoperability a critical principle for protecting competition.

Industry and consumer groups asked the FCC to deny Perdue for Senate's petition for declaratory ruling that voicemails delivered through ringless voicemail technology are exempt from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, in comments posted through Tuesday in docket 02-278 (see 2109070062). There are "no technological or legal reason for them not to be covered," said the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Electronic Privacy Information Center, National Association of Consumer Advocates, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Consumer Reports agreed and said ringless voicemails "can fill up limited capacity" in a phone's mailbox or cause consumers to exhaust their monthly data. CR included more than 90,000 consumer signatures. Deny the petition "absent further articulation of the specifics of the RVM technology at issue" so commenters can assess how TCPA rules apply to it, said USTelecom.

The Senate Commerce Committee plans this session’s second data privacy hearing at 10 a.m. Wednesday in 253 Russell. FTC resources, major cybersecurity incidents and data security practices are on the agenda. Witnesses: ex-FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich, now at Kelley Drye; ex-FTC Chief Technologist Ed Felten, professor emeritus Princeton University; Engine Executive Director Kate Tummarello; and Identity Theft Resource Center Chief Operating Officer James Lee.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is among those to testify at a planned Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday on telehealth services’ role in this pandemic and “how to structure future deployment and policy to address the needs of underserved communities,” the Commerce Committee said Monday. University of New Mexico School of Medicine Project Echo Director Sanjeev Arora, Avel eCare President Deanna Larson and American Academy of Family Physicians President Sterling Ransone will also testify. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.

The Senate Judiciary Committee plans a confirmation hearing with DOJ Antitrust Division chief nominee Jonathan Kanter and others Wednesday at 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen, as expected (see 2109250003).