Attorneys General Focus on Privacy and Power: NPR

Officials from the largest law firms in 14 states and the Justice Department have begun a coordinated conversation about how to keep an eye on – and potentially contain – the fast-growing technology giants.

The Ministry of Justice held Tuesday a "listening session" with nine attorneys general and deputy prosecutors from five other states. The meeting was initially organized to focus on allegations of anti-conservative bias on social media.

But the discussion focused on a broader group of topics in the technology sector, including the rapid growth of technology companies such as Facebook and Google and their processing of user data. Attorneys General also discussed how antitrust laws could be used to define consumer privacy standards.

"The discussion focused mainly on consumer protection and data privacy issues, and the bipartite group of participants sought to identify areas of consensus," the Justice Department said in a statement. "Many felt that it was essential that federal and state law enforcement agencies work together to ensure that these issues are handled responsibly and effectively."

Much of the conversation in recent weeks has focused on Facebook, Twitter and Google, who have recently been called to testify in Congress about the use of their platforms for misinformation campaigns. But at Tuesday's meeting, "more names were mentioned" than these three companies, according to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who attended the meeting.

"We recognize that privacy has a different definition for everyone these days.What matters is the way the law deals with privacy", which is not clear. either, said Becerra. "But clearly … you rarely have a discussion about privacy without having an antitrust conversation in the end."

Last week, Louisiana L & # 39; lawyer The newspaper reported that Jeff Landry, the state's attorney general, "would like to see Google, Facebook and other big social media giants dismantled as the federal government did at Standard Oil more than a century ago. ". Landry was also at the meeting today.

Tuesday's conversation at the Justice Department touched on historical cases when the government decided to separate companies, such as Standard Oil and Microsoft, Becerra told reporters after the meeting.

"The topic was raised in the course of a conversation about how you manage growth and size of businesses," said Becerra. "But I do not think there was a specific notion that simply dealing with size would bring you the answer you need."

Landry's office did not respond to NPR's investigation on Tuesday. Nebraska Attorney General Spokesperson Doug Peterson, who would be one of the main organizers of the meeting.

As indicated by NPR earlier, state attorneys general can exercise broad oversight over social media through their scope of consumer protection. Already, several state attorneys general were investigating technology companies. The cases focused on the collection and use of private data, the disclosure of sponsors behind political advertising and how advertisers could exclude Internet users from advertisements such as those based on race or religion.

Becerra and the Department of Justice both said the lawyers plan to continue the conversation in the coming months. The National Association of Attorneys General meets in the fall for the month of November.