August 2023 U.S. Tech Policy Roundup

Rachel Lau, Kennedy Patlan, and J.J. Tolentino work with leading public interest foundations and nonprofits on technology policy issues at Freedman Consulting, LLC.  U.S. Capitol – Shutterstock With the U.S. Congress in August recess, tech policy news from the Hill was a bit slower than usual this month. But the Executive Branch, federal agencies and states continued to push policies forward addressing artificial intelligence (AI), privacy, content moderation, and antitrust topics.   In mid-August, the Biden Administration filed briefs urging the Supreme Court to review Texas and Florida-based laws that make it illegal for social media platforms to suspend or punish users for content shared or posted. Separately, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced plans to regulate data brokerage companies. The move coincided with a White House roundtable discussion on data broker practices held this month. Also in August, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the National Security Agency, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology published a fact sheet outlining roadmap recommendations to prepare the U.S. for the future of quantum capabilities and potential risks.  This month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reached its first AI bias lawsuit settlement. However, reports revealed that the EEOC is facing roadblocks in holding AI software companies accountable for related hiring incidents. This challenge is because lawsuits often rely on job seekers or employers filing charges with the EEOC, which has proven difficult given the lack of awareness that most individuals have about AI tools’ implications on hiring outcomes.  In…August 2023 U.S. Tech Policy Roundup