Thread by @matthewstoller

The Senate is now marking up the bill that would let publishers band together and bargain with big tech. Live-streamed here. #jcpa judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/09/08…

"Social media has lowered the cost of being an a-hole." - Senator John Kennedy

As one would expect, @SenMikeLee opposes the #JCPA. He says that the 'politicization of news' has already happened because of the introduction of the bill.🙄

So @SenMikeLee is making a lot of points, mostly rehashing left-wing arguments from @publicknowledge and combining that with disdain for cartels. But he won't grapple with what happened in Australia! None of the critics will! mattstoller.substack.com/p/should-we-sa…

And now he's saying that forcing a common carrier to carry content is unconstitutional. So is Ohio AG David Yost's suit against Google over common carrier status unconstitutional? Did Lee miss Clarence Thomas's point about common carriers? mattstoller.substack.com/p/why-is-clare…

So @SenatorLeahy reiterates the discredited arguments about how it expands copyright and would break the internet. That's not what happened in Australia!

And @HawleyMO offers a short statement opposing the #JCPA it because the bill would create cartels.

Now California @SenAlexPadilla - who is weighing the concerns of big tech firms - is concerned about hate speech and disinformation. Then expresses worry that the bill will only help hedge funds, and not workers.

Now @SenAlexPadilla is concerned that the JCPA won't allow Google and Facebook to impose a broad censorship regime over the internet.

The two bill sponsors - Klobuchar and Kennedy - got into a debate over whether censorship should be excluded from the antitrust exception, which for a few reasons is substantively unimportant. Klobuchar pulled the bill for now, it'll probably get fixed later. #JCPA

There are people on both sides who urging big tech censorship. @SenAlexPadilla calls for it in the name of preventing 'disinformation,' @SenMikeLee in the name of preventing compelled speech. It's all the same thing, a push to have Google be our national censor.