During his Second State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Joe Biden endorsed more regulations governing Silicon Valley.
He asserted that it is past due for social media companies to compensate for what he called an experiment they are conducting on children for economic profit.
The President Rallies Support From Bipartisan Legislation
To finally address a number of long-standing privacy, safety, and competition issues affecting the internet industry, the president made an effort to mobilize bipartisan support.
According to The Verge, Biden urged Congress to approve new regulations safeguarding user data privacy and fostering competition in the internet sector during the more than hour-long speech.
"Pass bipartisan legislation to strengthen antitrust enforcement and prevent big online platforms from giving their own products an unfair advantage," Biden said.
Biden urges the passage of bipartisan legislation to outlaw targeted advertising to children, halt Big Tech from gathering personal information on children and teenagers online.
He also asks them to set stricter restrictions on the personal information these businesses can acquire.
"It's a real problem in a virtual world," San Jose State professor and tech expert Ahmed Banafa weighed in, ABC News notes.
Banafa also said that It is the obligation of digital corporations to put people before profit because if they adopt this mentality, they will recognize that they are affecting human life and that the repercussions will be severe.
Meanwhile, regarding the speech, it mostly reiterated what Biden said in his first State of the Union address from the previous year.
The Congress and the Biden administration have been concerned about child online safety for a while, but things really got out of hand in 2021.
This is because Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen released internal company documents outlining the risks to young users' mental health when they use Meta platforms like Instagram.
As a guest of First Lady Jill Biden, Haugen attended the president's final speech, demonstrating the administration's support for more stringent internet safety measures.
Read More: President Biden Signs The Safety Connections Act Of 2022
The Government Has Been Taking Steps To Reign In On Tech Industry Safety Concerns
According to The Verge, little has been done in the past two years to increase the safety of young users on social media in the US.
Numerous measures have been proposed by lawmakers, but none have received enough support to come up for a floor vote in the House or Senate.
Many of these bills, such as the one introduced by Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) to update an existing online child safety law, accomplish many of the goals Biden outlined on Tuesday.
This includes prohibiting platforms like Instagram and YouTube from targeting advertisements at young people.
Biden used the primetime opportunity to highlight the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which featured $52 billion in funds to increase US semiconductor production.
He also took the time to highlight his administration's efforts to increase US competitiveness versus China.
However, Biden avoided making any mention of whether his government would forbid TikTok despite the speech's emphasis on China.
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