Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has pressed the Trump administration for information on its efforts to strong-arm foreign nations into weakening tech regulations, particularly those designed to counter child abuse.
The problem of child predation on platforms operated by some top U.S. tech companies has been making headlines. So have the Trump administration’s threats against countries looking to regulate those companies. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump’s State Department attempted to shield Elon Musk’s social platform, X, from a British probe after X’s artificial intelligence tool, Grok, was used to generate nonconsensual pornography, including sexually exploitative images of kids. (In response to the probe, X has said “it takes action against illegal content on the platform.”)
Last year, Trump openly threatened to use tariffs to target the European Union over regulations that seek to hold powerful tech companies to account for their products and services. Trump’s ambassador to the EU told Politico last week that weakening tech regulations has been a key focus of trade negotiations with Europe.
That was the crux of Warren’s letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Wednesday, seeking answers on what role tariffs have played in trade negotiations attempting to water down Big Tech regulations.
“The White House’s trade negotiations appear to be focused on securing advantages for the President and his tech billionaire friends, rather than delivering the new manufacturing jobs and balanced trade he promised American families,” Warren wrote.
The letter makes specific reference to the Grok pornography incident and the people harmed by it.
The senator made a good point. Trump and his administration have falsely framed European laws meant to curb things such as child predation and violent hate speech as “discriminatory” impediments to American business, but there is little evidence that having less sexual exploitation of children, for example, or fewer epithet-filled threats on social media does fundamental harm to U.S. enterprise.
Warren’s letter demands answers from Greer, including whether or not he agrees that other countries have the authority to regulate sexually explicit material online, including material that involves minors. The senator is also seeking information regarding any communications between Greer’s office and Musk or employees affiliated with X or Grok about opposing foreign tech regulations. The senator demanded a response by April 12 “to better understand USTR’s motivations in seeking favors for Big Tech.”
Oddly enough, this all relates to Trump’s infatuation with the new ballroom he hopes to build on the White House grounds. Many of the top Big Tech companies are on the list of donors to the ballroom, and unless you believe they have made substantial donations to that effort out of the kindness of their hearts, it certainly seems worth considering what they have gotten in return.
Like a rabid deregulatory agenda, perhaps.
It’s the kind of “you scratch my back, I scratch yours” scenario about which Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., sounded the alarm on MS NOW on Tuesday, when he told Chris Hayes that the ballroom is a “corruption project” through which companies with interests before the president can funnel money to the president. Watch the clip above.
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