Florida’s social media law violates the First Amendment despite the state’s common-carrier arguments, groups argued Monday in supporting the tech industry’s lawsuit (see 2109220064) in case 21-12355 in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. SB-7072 makes it unlawful for sites to deplatform political candidates and requires sites be transparent about policing, unless the site owns a Florida theme park. Groups filing in support of the Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice included tech and telecom interests, consumer advocates, publishers and media representatives. Filers included CTA, Engine, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, Chamber of Progress, TechNet, American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Democracy & Technology, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Cato Institute, TechFreedom and Authors Guild. The law is “a direct threat to healthy and safe online communities by restricting and penalizing online providers’ efforts to exercise their First Amendment rights to moderate content on their private platforms,” CTA argued with 10 other groups, including ITIF, TechNet and the Progressive Policy Institute. The law would open the door to “direct content regulation,” in service of government policing bias, “on the platforms that millions of Americans now use to get their news,” publisher and news associations wrote. The First Amendment “protects the exercise of editorial discretion, including by speakers that host others’ speech,” said CDT. Slapping the label “common carrier” on something doesn’t make it a reality, said TechFreedom: “Even if it did, common carriers retain their First Amendment rights, and they have much broader discretion to refuse service than SB 7072 allows for.”

A European Union official said that even once the bloc passes its Carbon Border Adjustment Measure, "that definitely doesn’t preclude joint work on international coordination" on preventing manufacturing from moving to countries that aren't as ambitious in fighting climate change.

The U.S. should continue to impose export controls on advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment and machinery but be careful about restricting sales of finished semiconductor products to China, Chinese economics and technology policy experts said. Controls on finished products may risk hurting U.S. semiconductor exporters and would not stop China from importing those goods elsewhere, they said.

With no comprehensive recent national privacy law, stakeholders must continue discussions about ways to rebuild consumers' trust in technology -- perhaps via standards or other agreed-upon measures, an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and XR Association conference was told Thursday. Speakers on one panel agreed the U.S. is behind on legislative efforts (see 2110200060). They said Europe is ahead, such as with the EU general data protection regulation. Boosting people's confidence that their information will be appropriately used when it's collected by devices, apps and by content providers is possible but not guaranteed, ITIF and XRA were told.

With no comprehensive recent national privacy law, stakeholders must continue discussions about ways to rebuild consumers' trust in technology -- perhaps via standards or other agreed-upon measures, an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and XR Association conference was told Thursday. Speakers on one panel agreed the U.S. is behind on legislative efforts (see 2110200060). They said Europe is ahead, such as with the EU general data protection regulation. Boosting people's confidence that their information will be appropriately used when it's collected by devices, apps and by content providers is possible but not guaranteed, ITIF and XRA were told.

Legislation unveiled Thursday would prohibit online platforms from self-preferencing their own products. Modeled after bipartisan legislation in the House, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act will be introduced by Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Sept. 20-24 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Members of the World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement should expand the ITA’s list of covered products to include more than 250 additional information and communications technology goods, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation said in a September report. The foundation said this new and third expansion of the ITA -- called the “ITA-3” -- would eliminate tariffs on a range of evolving ICT goods and “generate tangible economic growth” for major trading nations, including the U.S., China, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and others.

Members of the World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement should expand the ITA’s list of covered products to include more than 250 additional information and communications technology goods, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation said in a September report. The foundation said this new and third expansion of the ITA -- called the “ITA-3” -- would eliminate tariffs on a range of evolving ICT goods and “generate tangible economic growth” for major trading nations, including the U.S., China, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and others.

The U.S. should use the upcoming inaugural meeting of the U.S.-European Union Trade and Technology Council (see 2109090004) to convince the European Union to adopt more measures to “constrain China,” including stricter export controls and investment screening, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said Sept. 13. If used correctly, the council could become a significant and useful U.S. tool to increase multilateral trade restrictions on China, the group said. “U.S. negotiators need to define success not as becoming more like the EU or increasing cooperation for cooperation’s sake,” ITIF said, “but rather in increasing cooperation while also advancing key U.S. national interests and maintaining core elements of the U.S. technology policy ecosystem.”