Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says Social Media Regulation Is “Long Overdue”; Congress Also Needs to Deal with Artificial Intelligence, Which Is “Rushing Ahead” Into a Potentially “Scary Future”

See below for video of Sen. Mark Warner’s latest press availability, held last week, in which he said (among other things):

• “I think we may have dodged another bullet in terms of the challenges around the debt ceiling.” “This is crazy that we even have this debt ceiling vote on a regular basis; there is no other industrial nation in the world that requires their legislature to vote on debt that their national government incurred after the fact…this is money we’ve already spent…We should get rid of this…It’s like giving a live hand grenade to irresponsible politicians.”
• Passage of the defense bill “is really important for Virginia…2.7% pay raise for all our active-duty military…continues to move forward on submarine purchases…changing our military justice system to take on sexual assault.”
• Commerce committee hearings happening on big tech/social media regulation, something that is “long overdue.” Failure to regulate social media companies’ “dark underbelly” has been “one of Congress’ biggest failings over the last 3-4 years.” It’s a “bit of a fool’s errand” to think that social media companies will self regulate. Areas of potential regulation: 1) “privacy legislation”; 2) “how we can add more competition in this space”; 3) “DETOUR Act” to prevent social media platforms from using their tools to “kind of suck you in”; 4) Section 230/content moderation (social media companies shouldn’t get a “free pass” on this; 5) anti-trust legislation is “long overdue.” It is “totally irresponsible” for Congress to not step up on social media regulation. “I think we need to hold them to their commitments.” After the testimony of the Facebook whistleblower, “we’ve gotta get off the dime…we owe it to our kids…to the future.” “We kind of allowed social media for a decade plus without any guardrails…now we’re kind of chasing the technology…[and[ there’s a dark underbelly. “If we think that the changes brought about by social media are significant, they are tiny compared to the changes that are going to be brought about by artificial intelligence…That area is rushing ahead…we ought to be putting in place at least some ethical and…some level of regulatory standards…That’s a pretty scary future…”
• On “Build Back Better,” Sen. Warner said he doesn’t believe it will be inflationary, that he continues to work on the “pay fors,” but in the end “my intention is to be supportive of this legislation…this is a pro-growth bill.”