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Big Tech's Congressional Circus Rolls On


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Black-and-white photo of old-time circus, ringmaster training horses

However worthy these confrontations may be, they likely won't stop the flow of donations that tech companies make to incumbents with the power to regulate businesses.

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Congressional response to Big Tech has become a repetitive political farce, rather than helping advance lawmakers' understanding so they can fix things. And the recent Facebook hearing is the latest proof. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle monologue that they're fed up with tech and express their desire to regulate—but they never do. Right on cue, Sen. Roger Wicker even echoed a bipartisan call for privacy legislation, declaring: "We are serious about taking action."

Hearings these days tend to take a traditional form of Congress hauling some executive to the Hill to yell at them. What lawmakers leave behind often enough is not understanding, but a video clip, ready to go viral, of their indignant performance with a Silicon Valley fat cat.

From Protocol
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