Josh Hawley

Time was, journalists assumed that news consumers demanded “more information, faster and better.” Now, instantaneous communication via passive media — video and television — supplies what indolent consumers demand.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) managed to get outsized attention for legislation that likely will go nowhere: A bill that targets Disney by reversing copyright protection for large media conglomerations. Hawley, viewed as a potential 2024 presidential contender, introduced the Copyright Clause Restoration Act on Tuesday, which would return copyright protections to a maximum of 56 years. It’s the latest effort to target The Walt Disney Co. after it came out against a Florida parental rights bill, which opponents have dubbed the Don’t Say Gay bill.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) last week proposed an amendment to a budget bill that would prohibit the merger of some Big Tech companies by presumptively preventing any merger or acquisitions involving a “market-dominant online platform.” That would mean the dominant player would have to affirmatively show that a merger or purchase was not anticompetitive.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) will introduce legislation today that would give consumers grounds to sue companies like Facebook or Twitter over accusations of selective censorship of political speech.

Digital rights groups and the ad industry view President Trump’s recent order regarding social media as a threat to the First Amendment. But four Republican senators said Tuesday the order marks an “important step” to addressing “censorship” by social media companies.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri released a proposal this morning to absorb the Federal Trade Commission into the U.S. Justice Department as a way to push back on Big Tech companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc.

Three U.S. lawmakers active in tech issues will introduce a bill requiring social networks like Facebook to allow users to pack up their data and go elsewhere, Sen. Mark Warner’s office said in a statement on Tuesday. The senators, Republican Josh Hawley and Democrats Warner and Richard Blumenthal, are introducing the bill at a time when there is growing concern that Facebook, along with Alphabet’s Google, have become so powerful that smaller rivals are unable to lure away their users.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), one of Silicon Valley’s loudest critics, has proposed legislation banning some online practices he believes cause “addiction.”

“We are concerned that the FTC has failed to impose strict structural reforms and managerial accountability that would put an end to Facebook’s privacy invasions,” Sens. Ed Markey, Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley write.