| Happy Thursday! Congress's website was so convinced that I was a robot as I blazed through bill amendments yesterday that I'm starting to wonder myself. Prove your humanity by sending tips to: cristiano.lima@washpost.com. Below: A major data broker bill gains steam, and French backlash leads a U.S. economist to withdraw from a key E.U. post. First: | Senators look to tuck AI, social media into huge defense bill |  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pushing to include artificial intelligence provisions in a major defense bill. (Elizabeth Frantz/The Washington Post) | | | As the Senate ramps up its consideration of a sprawling defense bill this week, lawmakers are readying a flurry of bills on artificial intelligence, social media oversight and other prominent tech issues that they are hoping can hitch a ride on the package. The vast majority of amendments that lawmakers offer up are never discussed on the floor, and the ones the Senate does adopt will need to survive negotiations with the House, which narrowly passed a divisive version of its own Pentagon bill last week. But the massive defense bill is often one of the most effective ways for lawmakers to get their bills over the finish line on Capitol Hill, where efforts to move broader packages on data privacy, competition and AI have languished. We sifted through hundreds of amendments and checked in with congressional aides, advocates and industry figures to find out what potential changes they are keeping tabs on as the Senate begins consideration of the package. Here's what we found: | Schumer leads an early AI volley | | Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has touted the inclusion of several AI provisions in his manager's amendment, which is more likely to become law than most of the changes lawmakers have proposed. They include: | - A provision requiring that federal financial regulators issue reports detailing how they are most frequently using AI and what regulatory issues may arise from the tool.
- A wrinkle creating a bug bounty program for AI at the Defense Department that would incentivize people spotting potential issues with their use of the tool.
- An amendment requiring the Defense Department to issue a report laying out ways to improve data sharing and interoperability in its use of AI.
- And language requiring the department to coordinate with other federal agencies to conduct risk studies for the use of AI.
| - Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) is pushing to include his bill to create an AI task force to "assess the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties implications" of the technology.
- Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is proposing requiring the Defense Department issue annual reports to Congress detailing how much it is investing in AI and how.
- Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) has proposed directing agencies to implement the AI risk management framework issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is calling for creating a joint U.S.-Israeli center to boost AI development to counter foreign countries "of concern" such as China and Iran.
| Social media and TikTok on the clock | | Lawmakers have floated including provisions targeting TikTok and other apps with links to countries like China, as well as measures aimed at tackling child sexual abuse material online and limiting social media companies' ability to moderate content. | - Rubio and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) have each introduced amendments mirroring their bills to ban TikTok for consumers throughout the United States.
- Judiciary Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) has proposed tucking in his STOP CSAM Act, S.1199, which advanced unanimously out of committee in May. It would create a mechanism to let victims of child sexual abuse sue platforms that facilitate exploitation.
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is calling for including language that would bar funding from the bill being used to "direct, coerce, or compel the content moderation decisions" by platforms aimed at "suppressing" speech or labeling it as "misinformation."
- Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) is pushing to include her bill requiring the Department of Homeland Security to develop a strategy to stop drug cartels from using social media to recruit new members, which advanced out of committee in June.
| Digital trade, STEM education and other miscellaneous bids | | Lawmakers are looking to advance numerous other tech priorities as a part of the package, including on digital trade, STEM education and data privacy. | | |  | Our top tabs | | Microsoft asks FTC to spike administrative case against Activision deal |  The Federal Trade Commission brought the case before an internal judge. (Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images) | | | Microsoft on Wednesday urged the Federal Trade Commission to drop a case brought before an internal judge seeking to stop the company's planned $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, Diane Bartz and Jasper Ward report for Reuters, citing a motion posted to the FTC's website. "In Washington, the FTC has been pursuing a two-pronged attack against the proposed transaction. One was in district court, which refused last week to slap a preliminary injunction on the proposed transaction. An appeals court also turned down a request for the deal to be paused," Bartz and Ward write. "The second is before an FTC administrative law judge, where a trial is to begin on Aug. 2. It was this prong that the companies asked the agency to withdraw," the report adds. Both companies on Wednesday agreed to a three-month extension of a July deadline for the deal to close as they seek to work out approval with U.K. antitrust enforcers. | Legislation curbing data broker sales to government agencies advances |  Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who heads thee House Judiciary Committee. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) | | | The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday advanced a bill to close loopholes that allow data brokers to sell consumers' data to law enforcement and federal agencies, Tonya Riley reports for CyberScoop. The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act "addresses longstanding concerns from civil liberties and privacy advocates that such purchases allow law enforcement to evade the Fourth Amendment, which protects against warrantless searches," Riley writes. Interest in the bill recently increased amid debates over whether to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that allows for "the collection of data belonging to foreign intelligence targets whose communications transit U.S. communications infrastructure," according to the report. Section 702 is set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress reauthorizes it. A declassified report released last month shows the U.S. intelligence community has leaned heavily on purchasing information that includes data protected by the Fourth Amendment. | French backlash led U.S. economist to withdraw from E.U. antitrust post |  E.U. antitrust head Margrethe Vestager addresses European lawmakers at the European Parliament in Brussels. (Francisco Seco/AP) | | | French backlash against American economist Fiona Scott Morton's selection for a chief position in the E.U.'s antitrust unit led her to withdraw from the post, Foo Yun Chee reports for Reuters. E.U. antitrust head Margrethe Vestager last week picked Morton to take the reins as chief economist of the bloc's antitrust unit that is currently probing major U.S. tech companies including Apple and Meta, according to the report. Morton had previously consulted for a handful of Big Tech companies. "She would have had to recuse herself for up to two years from cases involving companies which were her clients," the report added. "France has in recent years been vocal about its determination to drive Europe's independence and wants to remove all possible U.S. influence from policy-making as it pushes for strategic autonomy in key industries, such as technology," Yun Chee writes. | | |  | Rant and rave | | | Former Microsoft executive Steven Sinofsky: | | Venture Capitalist M.G. Siegler: | | |  | Agency scanner | | | |  | Hill happenings | | | |  | Inside the industry | | | |  | Privacy monitor | | | |  | Workforce report | | | |  | Trending | | | |  | Mentions | | - Technology industry group TechNet added Alcorn Immigration Law, Pindrop and Sunrun as members, according to a Thursday announcement.
| | |  | Daybook | | | |  | Before you log off | | | That's all for today — thank you so much for joining us! Make sure to tell others to subscribe to The Technology 202 here. Get in touch with tips, feedback or greetings on Twitter or email. | |
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