#Senate GOP must act to stop Big Tech abuses

Now they’ve done it. The Big Tech monopolists have finally gone too far. They’ve brazenly censored this newspaper’s reporting days before a presidential election, and now, after years of quiescence, the Republican establishment is up in arms. Furious. Their sternly worded letters are piling up. Their brows are furrowing. This time, the GOP establishment is serious. This time, they’re going to do something. This time … well, we’ll see.

Truth is, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey wouldn’t have censored The Post’s explosive reporting on Joe and Hunter Biden’s shenanigans with foreign oligarchs if they expected accountability. The Big Tech bosses did it because they thought they could get away with it, and because they expect to be rewarded for their loyalty when Joe Biden takes power.

The Republican Senate should prove them wrong.

Our most urgent priorities in the time we have remaining in this Congress must be, first, to subpoena Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey to testify under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Under penalty of perjury, they should explain their possible collusion with the Biden campaign to censor The Post’s reporting. And the committee should extract firm commitments from them about their conduct going forward. Whatever the outcome in November’s election, their sworn testimony will legally bind them. This may be our last chance to impose such a constraint for years. Inaction would be inexcusable.

Second, the Senate should vote without delay on reforms to the Clinton-era Big Tech liability shield that enables the worst abuses of the most powerful monopolies in human history. It’s known as Section 230. I’ve authored several reforms, including a proposal to allow Americans to sue the tech giants for politically biased censorship, an approach that has won the endorsement of President Trump and many GOP lawmakers. There’s no reason not to put that bill on the floor. Immediately.

You’d think, given all the outrage the Republican establishment has expressed at Big Tech’s conduct last week, that these steps would be no-brainers for our Senate majority. But what happened last week wasn’t much worse than all that Big Tech has gotten away with during the last four years. And the establishment has been content to allow such abuses all that time.

That’s not for ignorance on their part. It’s no secret that tech executives like Sergey Brin regarded Trump’s election as a “deeply offensive” event. It’s no surprise they’re doing all they can to make sure it’s not repeated. But too many Republicans have been happy to attack Big Tech for the abuse of power du jour, only to do nothing to address these monopolies’ control over the flow of digital information worldwide. And now time is running out.

Sitting idly by in the face of Big Tech abuses would be bad enough, but the story is worse. Ask yourself some questions about what the leaders who claim to speak for you have done on this issue, and you’ll come to a disturbing conclusion: Why is it that the Democratic FTC commissioners have consistently been more eager to litigate the abuses of companies like Facebook than the GOP commissioners? Why is it that online personality Joe Rogan asks tougher questions of Jack Dorsey than the vast majority of Republicans who’ve encountered him in oversight hearings? Why is it that the establishment’s antitrust agenda is aimed at weakening rather than strengthening the laws we need to combat these threats to our democracy?

The answer is that the same Republican establishment that has long championed globalization, mass immigration and the interests of Wall Street welcomes Big Tech’s ascent. They aren’t passive at all. Just as they’ve balked at the president’s efforts to reverse the errors of the Clinton era in economic policy, they have been actively hostile to any and all efforts to rein in the new monopolists of the 21st century. From the halls of Congress to the discussions around catered think-tank lunches, Washington “conservatives” have long regarded the tech giants as allies. Some are even on their payroll.

I’ve been in the US Senate for 22 months. I’ve authored 15 bills targeting the central pillars of Big Tech’s business model. Time and again, I’ve demanded votes on these proposals, only to receive eyerolls from the powers that be, who think this is a controversy to exploit for fundraising rather than an urgent threat that calls for action in law.

Those supposedly conservative think tanks that tell you they’re developing better ideas, the ones now sending the tech CEOs those stern letters? For years, their tech agenda has been the same as the Republican establishment’s: Do nothing. Practically none of the conservative tech “experts” whose salaries are paid by supposedly conservative institutions actually see this as a problem worth solving. So it has gone unsolved.

I’d hoped by now that minds might change in time to do some good. But the hour is late, and Big Tech is already making plans to double down on its censorship to benefit Democrats. We’ve squandered too much precious time already. If the Senate doesn’t act now to address these companies’ abuses, we may not get another chance. No more excuses. It’s time for Republicans to act.

Josh Hawley is a US senator from Missouri.