Hey there --

Hope you’ve had a great start to your new year. Over here at Accountable Tech, we hit the ground running. 

I try to pause and reflect at the beginning of each month about our work and progress, and I’ll be honest—I did not expect so much to happen this past month. The holidays seem like a lifetime ago already. Here’s a quick recap of our busy January:

• The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol subpoenaed four social media companies, including Facebook, after they failed to provide adequate responses to the Committee’s questions. As we know, Facebook was the launch pad for the Stop the Steal movement and the organizing platform for the deadly attack on the Capitol. We were one of the first groups calling for Congress to investigate Facebook, and we’re looking forward to seeing what the investigation reveals about Facebook’s leadership knowingly allowing their platform to be used to incite an insurrection.


• Senator Cory Booker, Rep. Anna Eshoo, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky introduced the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act in Congress. This landmark bicameral legislation would ban the toxic business model of surveillance advertising that is at the core of Big Tech’s proliferation of disinformation and extremism on and offline by prohibiting the hyper-targeting of ads and sale of personal data.


• On the other side of the Atlantic, the European Parliament held key plenary votes on the Digital Services Act (DSA), and the legislation moved closer to becoming law. The DSA will ban surveillance advertising for minors and prohibit the use of highly sensitive personal data for behavioral targeting of anyone—marking another key victory in the growing transatlantic movement to ban surveillance advertising.


• You might also remember that in September 2021 we filed a rulemaking petition with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging the agency to prohibit surveillance advertising through their regulatory powers. The comment period just wrapped up on our petition and we were blown away by the diverse array of advocacy organizations, businesses, lawmakers, experts, and grassroots supporters—including over 2,000 of you—who came forward to support our petition and call on the FTC to take action.


• With a bipartisan 16-6 vote last week, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. This is the first time in decades that anti-monopoly legislation has passed out of committee in both the U.S. House and Senate. Critically, this bill would rein in Big Tech’s monopoly power by banning e-commerce giants like Amazon and Google from elevating their own products in search results—restoring a fair marketplace for small business owners and consumers.

None of this work happened overnight. It’s taken almost a year for us to see this progress in our fight to ban surveillance advertising. It also takes staff time, coalition websites, compelling videos, social media graphics, legal guidance, and campaign resources to create this transatlantic momentum to ban surveillance advertising.

Chip in now to help us double-down on our fight to ban surveillance advertising and uproot Big Tech’s toxic business model that’s fueling disinformation and extremism on and offline:

As we close out this first month of 2022, we cannot thank you enough for your support. Even if you cannot donate now, your interest, voice, support, and perspective are always valued in our work. 

Onwards,

Nicole

Nicole Gill
Co-founder & Executive Director
Accountable Tech