The House voted 242-184 Thursday to pass the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act (HR-3843) (see 2209260060). It initially passed by voice vote, but House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, called for an official count. The bill raises fees for larger transactions and lowers the fee for small and medium deals, ensuring the FTC and DOJ receive fair compensation for their merger reviews, said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., on the floor Thursday. Jordan said the estimated $140 million annually for each agency will result in more unnecessary government bureaucracy and politically driven harassment. Public Knowledge welcomed the vote. “For many years, antitrust enforcers feared that Congress would cut their funding if they did too much to protect consumers and promote a healthy marketplace,” said Competition Policy Director Charlotte Slaiman. “Now Congress speaks clearly on antitrust: The strategy of underenforcement is over.”

The House expects to vote this week on a series of bipartisan antitrust bills with implications for the tech industry, House Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Ken Buck, R-Colo., said Monday. Votes are expected on the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act (see 2106250062), the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act (see 2202090066) and the Foreign Merger Subsidy Disclosure Act. The merger filing bill would increase fees for larger companies to enhance resources for enforcers. The venue bill would give state attorneys general more discretion over where they litigate cases, and the third bill would require merger filing disclosures of subsidies from countries like China.The White House urged House passage of the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act (HR-3843) (see 2209260060). Merger fees to the FTC and DOJ haven’t kept pace with the number, size and complexity of deals, the Office of Management and Budget said Tuesday in a statement of administration policy.

House GOP leaders formally unveiled their “Commitment to America” midterm election policy platform Friday at an event in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, but the plan’s proposals for reining in Big Tech didn’t get mention from party leaders. The proposal calls for “greater privacy and data security protections for Americans,” supplying “parents with more tools to keep their kids safe online” and preventing “companies from putting politics ahead of people.” Big Tech “has tipped the scales to silence and censor those with conservative viewpoints,” the House GOP’s plan said: “Worse than crystalizing [sic] an ideological echo chamber, these apps have proven to be incredibly addictive for children with potentially devastating consequences.” House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who would likely become panel chair if the GOP wins control of the chamber in the November election, later talked about the tech proposal during a Fox Business Channel appearance. She cited interest in revisiting Communications Decency Act Section 230, noting major social media companies have been more interested in “censoring conservative speech online” than stopping “criminal activity” committed via their platforms. “I’m sending letters to many of the big tech companies like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram and telling them they need to do more to stop the fentanyl sales that are killing our children,” Rodgers said. She earlier this month cited instances in which young people have had access to drugs, often laced with fentanyl, using Snapchat (see 2209150061).

“Holding Big Tech accountable” will be one of House Commerce Committee Republicans’ top priorities if their party wins a majority in the chamber in the November election, ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said during a Thursday Punchbowl News event. “We need to hold Big Tech accountable” in a bigger way than has happened during this Congress, Rodgers said: She supports “narrowing [Communications Decency Act] Section 230 protections, especially for the larger companies” that have been “bad actors,” so “they can be held accountable” for censorship. Rodgers touted Republicans’ Big Tech Censorship and Data Task Force and language in House Commerce’s stalled (see 2209010066) American Data Privacy and Protection Act (HR-8152) that “would protect” personal information for users under age 17. The GOP also aims to ensure “small companies and innovators can still have access” to a “free internet” so “they can compete,” she said. Rodgers cited TikTok and Snapchat as among the worst actors in the tech space. She cited TikTok’s “impact on kids” and the “amount of data” that app collects that’s “being stored in China or used in China.” She criticized Snapchat over instances in which young people have had access to drugs, often laced with fentanyl, using the app (see 2110260070). Snapchat and TikTok didn’t comment. Rodgers said her shorter-term goals include ensuring language to temporarily extend the FCC’s spectrum auction authority past Sept. 30 makes it into a planned continuing resolution to fund the federal government past that date (see 2209090053). The House already “did our work” by passing the Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624), which would renew the FCC’s authority for 18 months (see 2208090001), she said: “It would be unfortunate” if the agency’s existing authority expires and “I don’t believe anyone wants to see that” happen.

House Republicans introduced legislation Wednesday targeting the Biden administration’s alleged influence over social media platforms’ content moderation practices. House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.; House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and House Oversight Committee ranking member James Comer, R-Ky., introduced the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act HR-8752. The bill bans federal officials from using “official authority, influence, or resources -- including contracting, grantmaking, rulemaking, licensing, permitting, investigatory, or enforcement actions -- to promote the censorship of lawful speech or advocate that a third party or private entity censor speech,” they said. It carries penalties mirroring those levied against officials who engage in political activity in their official capacities, including pay reductions, debarment and civil penalties, they said.

The FTC appears to be “flouting federal law” by relying on “unpaid and unaccountable consultants and so-called 'experts' to perform core functions at the agency,” House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote in a letter to Chair Lina Khan on Thursday. He cited an inspector general report from earlier this month about the agency’s use of unpaid consultants and experts. The Aug. 1 report included a performance audit to “determine whether the FTC’s program used to hire and oversee unpaid consultants and experts is managed in accordance with federal and agency requirements.” The audit concluded that “without a deliberate control structure and stronger mitigation posture, the agency is vulnerable to a variety of risks.” The audit said the agency’s “unpaid consultant and expert program lacks a comprehensive system of controls” and the agency “identifies, recruits, and selects unpaid consultants and experts without uniformity and transparency across all agency stakeholders.” Jordan accused the FTC of disregarding the law and exposing the agency to conflicts of interest risks. The “lack of guardrails will make it easier for the Biden FTC to continue promoting a radical, far-left orthodoxy,” he said. The FTC confirmed receiving the letter but declined comment.

A whistleblower’s claims against Twitter, if substantiated, “demonstrate a pattern of willful disregard for the personal data of Twitter users and the integrity of the platform,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and House Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., wrote in a letter Thursday to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal (see 2208230068). The company denied the allegations when they first surfaced. The letter cites Russian disinformation campaigns during election cycles and Twitter’s “unique role” in distributing information. They requested responses to a series of questions regarding the platform’s approach to security deficiencies.

It’s “incredibly disturbing” TikTok and its third-party content moderator have reportedly used child sex abuse material when training employees, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and Teleperformance CEO Daniel Julien Thursday. Citing reporting from Forbes, the senators demanded answers about the companies reportedly using sexually explicit material involving minors in its training materials. Blumenthal and Blackburn have teamed together on child-safety issues and legislation that recently passed the Senate Commerce Committee (see 2207270057). “By using these explicit images and videos as training materials, not only has Teleperformance subjected content moderators to the most repugnant subject matter imaginable, but it has actively promoted what it ostensibly sought to remove from TikTok,” they wrote. The companies didn’t comment.

Congressional leadership should move antitrust legislation that’s ready for floor action in both chambers, said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., Tuesday with the formal publishing of the committee’s October 2020 majority staff report on competition in the digital marketplace. “The report’s findings and recommendations clearly show that it is long-past time for Congress to enact meaningful updates to our antitrust laws to address the lack of competition in digital markets and the monopoly power of dominant platforms like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google,” Nadler said. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, the Open App Markets Act and the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act are “ready for votes today,” said House Antitrust Subcommittee Chair David Cicilline, D-R.I. House Antitrust Subcommittee Vice Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., spoke in support of her Ending Platform Monopolies Act.

TikTok must provide all documents and communications about its relationship with Chinese parent company ByteDance and its data-sharing practices (see 2206280064), House Republicans wrote the company Thursday, launching an investigation into TikTok’s handling of American user data. House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and House Oversight Committee ranking member James Comer, R-Ky., said: “Data collected by TikTok on U.S. users, such as browsing and search history, biometrics, location data, and other metadata, would be a massive national security risk in the hands of” Chinese Communist Party intelligence. TikTok didn’t comment.