A congressional committee made the demand of the Commerce Department after the New York Times reported on concerns among U.S. intelligence officials over the Emirati company, G42.
U.S. retail sales rose 1% in June, from a revised decline of 0.1 % in May, the Commerce Department said Friday. The figures aren’t adjusted for inflation and so largely reflect higher prices, particularly for gas. But they also show that consumers are still providing crucial support for the economy and spending on such discretionary items as furniture, restaurant meals and sporting goods.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Wednesday the department supports a proposal that aims to block tech giants from giving preferential treatment to their own products and services. The Commerce Department’s backing adds to the Biden administration’s support behind the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, following a letter the Department of Justice released last month.
The Biden administration will not pressure companies to drop their sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. “What individual companies do is entirely up to them. We’re not going to pressure them one way or another,” Raimondo said in an editorial board with Bloomberg reporters and editors Thursday.
A new executive order directs the Commerce Department to undertake what officials describe as an “evidence-based” analysis of transactions involving apps that are manufactured or supplied or controlled by China. Officials are particularly concerned about apps that collect users’ personal data or have connections to Chinese military or intelligence activities.
Exclusives
The Senate has voted 84-15 to confirm Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo as President Joe Biden’s new secretary of Commerce. Commerce incorporates the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, which is the White House’s chief policy advisory arm and oversees government spectrum use. Over the past couple of years it as been in a bit of a battle with the FCC over sharing government spectrum or freeing up spectrum too close, at least for NTIA’s comfort, to GPS spectrum.
President Biden’s nominee to serve as the secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, said Tuesday a controversial law that provides tech companies a legal liability shield from third-party content posted on their platforms needs to be reformed.
The U.S. Commerce Department plans to issue an order today that will bar people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok starting on this Sunday, Sept. 20, according to three officials.
As directed by President Trump, the Commerce Department has petitioned the FCC for regulations that could affect how social media companies treat posts by users. The petition, filed Monday by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, asks the FCC to issue rules tying web companies’ legal protections for users’ speech to the companies’ content moderation policies.
Diane Rinaldo, who is acting administrator for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, emailed staff a “fond farewell” on Monday. Doug Kinkoph, Commerce Department acting deputy assistant secretary, will fill in for Rinaldo as acting administrator.
