As Elon Musk moves ahead with plans to buy Twitter, we'll dive into what to expect from the billionaire tech mogul as the deal proceeds.

Meanwhile, federal officials on Tuesday expressed confidence that any attempts to manipulate votes at scale in November's election will be detected and thwarted. 

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Ines Kagubare. Subscribe here.

What to expect as Musk proceeds with Twitter deal

Elon Musk is proceeding with a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, the original purchase price agreed upon in April, amid an intense legal battle between the two sides. 

The billionaire businessman is reversing course from his previous attempts to back out of the deal, where he argued that Twitter wasn’t truthful about the number of bot accounts on the platform. Twitter denied those claims and sued Musk to force the sale to go through. 

Here’s what we know about Musk’s renewed effort to buy Twitter:

Musk wants to avoid a highly publicized trial

• As part of his proposed deal to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share, Musk demanded that Twitter drop its lawsuit against him.
  
• A trial before a Delaware court is scheduled to take place in just two weeks. Musk’s demand comes after the court released a trove of his private text messages and just before Musk was set to be questioned under oath by Twitter lawyers on Thursday. 

Twitter’s politics could shift under Musk

• Musk has said he’s buying Twitter to boost “free speech” and has signaled he’ll overhaul Twitter’s policy of removing posts it considers dangerous and adding disclaimers to posts that are deemed misinformation.
  
• He’s pushed back on permanent bans of Twitter users, including former President Trump, who was banned from the platform following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

Musk would overhaul Twitter’s business model 

• Musk wants to expand Twitter into an all-purpose app that users rely on for messaging, shopping, video gaming and web browsing, like China’s hugely popular WeChat app. Under his proposed plan, Twitter could take a cut of digital payments made on the app to boost revenue.
  
• “Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app,” Musk tweeted Wednesday.

Read more here from The Hill's Karl Evers-Hillstrom 

MUSK CLAIMS 'COVID EXPOSURE' AHEAD OF DEPOSITION 

Twitter’s attorneys accused Elon Musk of seeking to evade his deposition in the ongoing legal battle between him and the company after he refused to attend in person, citing the interviewing attorney’s exposure to COVID. 

In a newly public letter to the Delaware Court of Chancery, Twitter’s attorneys said Musk was slated to sit down for a two-day, in-person deposition beginning Sept. 28, but he later claimed “Covid exposure risk” because the attorney interviewing him had brief contact four days prior with a person who tested positive the following day. 

Twitter filed the suit against Musk in an attempt to require him to follow through with his agreement to acquire the social media company, which he later tried to back out from. But with a trial approaching later this month, Musk on Tuesday said he would move forward with buying the company at the same price he originally offered. 

Twitter’s attorneys cast doubt on Musk’s sincerity in declining to attend last month’s deposition, noting that the infected contact initially tested negative after seeing the attorney, and the attorney had not shown any symptoms and repeatedly tested negative for COVID. 

Read more here. 

Cyberattacks ‘unlikely’ to disrupt voting process

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint announcement on Tuesday expressing confidence that any attempts to manipulate votes at scale will be detected and thwarted. 

• Any attempts to compromise election infrastructure are “unlikely” to result in large-scale disruptions or prevent voting, the agencies wrote.
  
• “The FBI and CISA will continue to quickly respond to any potential threats, provide recommendations to harden election infrastructure, notify stakeholders of threats and intrusion activity and impose risks and consequences on cyber actors seeking to threaten U.S. elections,” the agencies said. 

The agencies added that they have no reporting to suggest cyber activity has ever prevented someone from casting a ballot or compromised any ballot’s integrity. CISA’s director in April indicated to lawmakers that election security ranks as a top issue for the agency.

The announcement comes as former President Trump and his allies have continually asserted, without evidence, that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged,” claiming that it was tainted by widespread voter fraud. 

Read more here. 

DOJ SENTENCES CANADIAN CITIZEN OVER RANSOMWARE  

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday sentenced a Canadian national to 20 years in prison and ordered him to forfeit more than $21 million for his role in NetWalker ransomware attacks. 

• The DOJ said the defendant, Sébastien Vachon-Desjardins, participated in a sophisticated form of ransomware known as NetWalker, which has targeted dozens of victims across the world, including companies, hospitals, law enforcement, emergency services and schools.
  
• “The defendant identified and attacked high-value ransomware victims and profited from the chaos caused by encrypting and stealing the victims’ data,” said Kenneth Polite, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s criminal division. 

DOJ officials also said that the NetWalker ransomware attacks specifically targeted the health care sector to extort victims during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Read more here. 

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: How Congress has transformed the US airline industry 

Notable links from around the web: 

Elon Musk’s Twitter Will Be a Wild Ride (The New York Times / Kevin Roose) 

Albania weighed invoking NATO’s Article 5 over Iranian cyberattack (Politico / Maggie Miller) 

Political spam is out of control. Now Gmail is about to make it worse. (The Washington Post / Geoffrey Fowler) 

🏃‍♂️ Lighter click: Dodging the tourists 

One more thing: Green groups tackle climate disinfo

More than a dozen environmental groups called on social media CEOs to better address climate change disinformation as part of their compliance with the EU’s Digital Services Act.

In May 2022, the European Union passed the Digital Services Act, which aims to improve digital spaces for social media users. 

Now, several environmental groups are calling on Twitter, TikTok and others to put more effort into addressing climate disinformation under the law. 

They argue the companies owe it to their users and to the planet. 

Read more here. 

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

Twitter’s attorneys accused Elon Musk of seeking to evade his deposition in the ongoing legal battle between him and the company after he refused to attend in person, citing the interviewing attorney's exposure to COVID.

In a newly public letter to the Delaware Court of Chancery, Twitter’s attorneys said Musk was slated to sit down for a two-day, in-person deposition beginning Sept. 28, but he later claimed “Covid exposure risk” because the attorney interviewing him had brief contact four days prior with a person who tested positive the following day.

Twitter filed the suit against Musk in an attempt to require him to follow through with his agreement to acquire the social media company, which he later tried to back out from. But with a trial approaching later this month, Musk on Tuesday said he would move forward with buying the company at the same price he originally offered.

Twitter’s attorneys cast doubt on Musk’s sincerity in declining to attend last month’s deposition, noting that the infected contact initially tested negative after seeing the attorney, and the attorney had not shown any symptoms and repeatedly tested negative for COVID.

“Trial begins in under three weeks,” they wrote. “Mr. Musk is a central witness and Plaintiff is concerned he is seeking to evade fair examination commensurate with his role in the matters in dispute.”

Musk’s attorneys pushed back on that characterization in a subsequent letter filed with the court, saying Twitter’s letter “omits critical facts.” They argued Musk offered to testify remotely instead, but Twitter itself decided to reschedule the deposition.

“Defendants made the reasonable request — consistent with [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines,” Musk’s attorneys wrote.

Musk’s deposition was rescheduled for Thursday and Friday, according to Twitter’s letter.

Musk attempted to walk away from the Twitter deal for weeks, arguing the company misrepresented how many spam accounts exist on the platform.

His attorneys also tried to back out of the deal over Twitter’s handling of high-profile whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, the social media company’s former security chief who came forward with allegations of widespread security deficiencies. 

Even with Musk’s decision this week to now move forward with his takeover bid, the trial has yet to be canceled.

Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, the court’s chancellor, said on Wednesday that neither Twitter nor Musk had moved to stop the trial.

“The parties have not filed a stipulation to stay this action, nor has any party moved for a stay,” she wrote. “I, therefore, continue to press on toward our trial set to begin on October 17, 2022.”

Elon Musk is proceeding with a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, the original purchase price agreed upon in April, amid an intense legal battle between the two sides.

The billionaire businessman is reversing course from his previous attempts to back out of the deal, where he argued that Twitter wasn’t truthful about the number of bot accounts on the platform. Twitter denied those claims and sued Musk to force the sale to go through.

Here’s what we know about Musk’s renewed effort to buy Twitter.

Musk wants to avoid a highly publicized trial

As part of his proposed deal to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share, Musk demanded that Twitter drop its lawsuit against him. 

A trial before a Delaware court is scheduled to take place in just two weeks. Musk’s demand comes after the court released a trove of his private text messages and just before Musk was set to be questioned under oath by Twitter lawyers on Thursday. 

At Twitter’s request, the court last week released a 40-page document of texts between Musk and other well-known figures, including former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, that appeared to portray his Twitter takeover bid as rushed and disorganized. 

Texts between Musk and Twitter board chair Bret Taylor revealed that Musk was well aware of the bot account issue, potentially worsening his legal position. 

“This is hard to do as a public company, as purging fake users will make the numbers look terrible, so restructuring should be done as a private company,” Musk wrote in a text.

Musk’s most recent proposal is contingent on adjourning the upcoming trial and all other legal proceedings related to the buyout. That would prevent the court from releasing more of Musk’s texts, including his communications with a Twitter whistleblower who alleged that the social media company lied about the number of bots on its platform. 

Twitter’s politics could shift under Musk 

Musk has said he’s buying Twitter to boost “free speech” and has signaled he’ll overhaul Twitter’s policy of removing posts it considers dangerous and adding disclaimers to posts that are deemed misinformation. 

He’s pushed back on permanent bans of Twitter users, including former President Trump, who was banned from the platform following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

“Would be great to unwind permanent bans, except for spam accounts and those that explicitly advocate violence,” Musk texted Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal earlier this year. 

Musk tweeted earlier this year that he will vote Republican in November, citing Democrats’ criticism of him and “a very cold shoulder” toward his companies Tesla and SpaceX. Musk later tweeted that he is leaning towards supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for president in 2024. 

Musk’s takeover would fundamentally change Twitter’s user base. When he initially agreed to buy Twitter in April, hundreds of thousands of users deactivated their accounts, while leading GOP figures gained tens of thousands of new followers. 

Republican lawmakers and right-leaning commentators have praised Musk’s bid to buy Twitter, arguing that the app is currently biased against conservatives. Left-leaning groups and Twitter employees have expressed concern that he will turn the platform into an unregulated "swamp."

“In effect, Musk will turn Twitter into a fever swamp of dangerous conspiracy theories, partisan chicanery, and operationalized harassment,” Angelo Carusone, president of the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America, said in a statement.

Musk would overhaul Twitter’s business model

Musk wants to expand Twitter into an all-purpose app that users rely on for messaging, shopping, video gaming and web browsing, like China’s hugely popular WeChat app. Under his proposed plan, Twitter could take a cut of digital payments made on the app to boost revenue. 

“Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app,” Musk tweeted Wednesday.

Musk has expressed envy toward TikTok’s algorithm that keeps users hooked on the app and wants to transform Twitter into a creator-friendly platform that relies more on video. He’s also said that users should be able to choose their preferred algorithm. 

Musk has pledged to rid Twitter of spam and bot activity by authenticating real users. Twitter has admitted to overcounting its number of real users but estimated that less than 5 percent of daily users are bots. 

Former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko alleged in August that the platform inflated the number of real users, stating that executives received multi-million dollar bonuses for boosting daily users. Zatko said he was fired for warning about security vulnerabilities that pose a threat to user data, while Twitter said he was fired for poor performance. 

Musk has openly criticized top Twitter executives, including its CEO Agrawal, throughout the legal battle. Analysts expect Musk to shake up the company’s leadership if the deal goes through, but it’s unclear who he would bring on to replace them. 

NASA's SpaceX Crew-5 launch is scheduled for Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center for a flight that will rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Liftoff is scheduled for 12 noon EDT.

Watch the live video above.

Elon Musk's deal to buy Twitter is rolling ahead after months of roadblocks, with the billionaire agreeing to buy the company for the original price reached in April if a lawsuit brought by the company against him is thrown out.  

Meanwhile, Musk is also drawing criticism after he tweeted a “peace” proposal for Ukraine that involved permanently making the Crimean Peninsula part of Russia and potentially recognizing the country’s annexation claims to four Ukrainian territories. 

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Subscribe here.

Musk agrees to original Twitter deal  

Elon Musk agreed to pay $44 billion to buy Twitter if a lawsuit brought by the company in an attempt to force him to follow through with the deal is closed, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) uploaded Tuesday.

Attorneys representing Musk sent a letter to Twitter Monday stating they intend to proceed with the closing of the deal the parties agreed to in April, provided that the court enters an immediate stay in the case.

• The offer to follow through on the deal Musk reached with Twitter on Tuesday comes roughly two weeks before the Tesla CEO was set to face Twitter in a trial over the agreement.
  
• News of Musk’s intent to move forward with the deal at the original offer of $54.20 per share was first reported by Bloomberg News. After the report, trading of Twitter shares halted. 

What they're saying: A Twitter spokesperson said the company intends to close the deal with Musk.  

“We received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC. The intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share,” the spokesperson said in a statement. 

The Hill reached out to an attorney for Musk for comment.  

Previous rationale: Musk was trying to back out of the deal over allegations that Twitter was breaching its side by not providing him with information about the number of bots on the platform. He tried to boost his case based on allegations raised by a Twitter whistleblower that in part cast doubt over how the company counts spam bot accounts online.

Twitter denied Musk’s allegations and was suing to try to hold the billionaire accountable to follow through with the deal to buy the company. 

Read more here.  

Musk spurs pushback with Ukraine ‘peace’ proposal

Elon Musk is drawing criticism after he tweeted a “peace” proposal for Ukraine that involved permanently making the Crimean Peninsula part of Russia and potentially recognizing the country’s annexation claims to four Ukrainian territories.

• Musk asked his more than 100 million Twitter followers to vote on the proposal, which included conducting United Nations-supervised referendums in the regions Russia annexed to determine which country the areas should belong to, drawing a firestorm from Ukrainian officials.
  
• Russia last week laid claim to the four regions, located in Ukraine’s south and east, after holding referendums that were roundly condemned by U.S. and Western officials as a sham. 

“This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end — just a question of how many die before then,” Musk wrote of his proposal. 

“F— off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk,” responded Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Melnyk. 

Read more here. 

PRIVACY BILL GETS A NEW HOUSE ALLY 

The centrist New Democrat Coalition (NDC) on Tuesday backed a privacy bill — currently stalled in the House — that would create a comprehensive national privacy law to protect consumer data and prohibit discrimination based on personal information. 

The American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee over the summer with bipartisan support but has gone nowhere since. 

Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), the chairwoman of the NDC, said the “legislation is a big step forward in our effort to ensure all Americans have strong data privacy and security protections under federal law.”

“Since our Coalition’s founding at the start of the Internet Age, New Dems have been policy leaders on innovation and technology,” DelBene said in a statement. “Early on, New Dems worked to tackle the challenges and embrace the opportunities of the 21st Century. Our members have also prioritized advancing policies that make privacy the default and put people in control of their own information.” 

Read more here. 

A new age ‘Bill of Rights’ 

The White House is urging technology companies to develop artificial intelligence (AI) systems with options for users to opt out of using them and with discrimination protections in mind, according to a blueprint for an “AI Bill of Rights” the administration released Tuesday.

The blueprint lays out five core protections the administration said Americans should be entitled to as companies increasingly use automated technologies that affect Americans’ daily lives.  

The AI Bill of Rights includes nonbinding proposals without enforcement mechanisms tied to them, though, meaning it lays out a framework for companies to choose to adopt or ignore. 

• One of the core principles states that users are entitled to alternative options to AI systems, including ones allowing them to opt out “where appropriate” and have a human alternative. The administration’s plan says that in some cases, a human or other alternative “may be required by law.”
  
• Another principle laid out in the blueprint calls for algorithmic discrimination protections.
  
• Other principles the AI Bill of Rights blueprint laid out are a push for safe and effective systems, a focus on built-in data privacy protections and the inclusion of a notice and explanation about the automated systems being used and how they contribute to users. 

Read more here.  

CYBER BILL TO INVEST IN MINORITY, COMMUNITY COLLEGES 

Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) introduced a bill on Tuesday that would invest in cybersecurity curriculums in predominantly minority schools and community colleges.  

The Cybersecurity Clinics Grant Program Act would establish a grant program based at the Department of Homeland Security that would fund cybersecurity education programs at community colleges and minority-serving institutions. 

“Building the next generation of young Americans in the cyber workforce requires strategic investments in opportunities that offer a high-potential path to help increase the number of experienced cybersecurity professionals,” Veasey said in a statement. 

The bill would also require the DHS to develop an experiential cybersecurity curriculum for the grant recipients. 

Read more here. 

EU VOTES FOR UNIVERSAL CHARGER

The European Parliament on Tuesday approved a new law requiring everyday electronic devices sold in the European Union (EU) to use USB-C charging ports. 

• The body voted 602-13 in favor of the law, which will extend to mobile phones, tablets and cameras by the end of 2024 and laptops in spring 2026, enabling consumers to use a singular charging technology for their devices. 
  
• The Council of the European Union still must approve the measure before it is enacted, but negotiators reached the agreement in July, so the vote is seen largely as a formality. 

“The common charger will finally become a reality in Europe,” Alex Agius Saliba, a member of the European Parliament from Malta, said in a statement.

“We have waited more than ten years for these rules, but we can finally leave the current plethora of chargers in the past,” he continued. “This future-proof law allows for the development of innovative charging solutions in the future, and it will benefit everyone — from frustrated consumers to our vulnerable environment.” 

Apple — which previously opposed the rules, arguing they would stifle innovation and create waste — would be among the companies most affected by the shift.

Read more here.  

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Squandering an opportunity on trade 

Notable links from around the web: 

I Uncovered an Army of Fake Men on Hinge (Wired / Lauren Goode) 

How the Supreme Court could change the internet as we know it (NBC News/ David Ingram) 

Banning TikTok won’t protect Americans’ sensitive data (CyberScoop / Justin Sherman) 

🐕  Lighter click: A trendsetter 

One more thing: Sandberg donates $3M to ACLU

Former Meta executive Sheryl Sandberg donated $3 million to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to fight abortion restrictions following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the group announced on Tuesday.

• “Few things are more important to women’s equality than access to safe and legal abortion,” Sandberg said in a statement.
  
• “Today, over one-third of women in the U.S. can’t access safe abortions,” she continued. “We’ve only just begun to see the devastating impact that state abortion bans will have on women’s health, and their ability to determine the course of their own lives. Now, more than ever, we must keep up the fight to defend our right to choose and protect abortion access.”

Sandberg served as chief operating officer of Meta, then Facebook, from 2008 until she stepped down on Aug. 1. 

Read more here.  

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

Elon Musk is drawing criticism after he tweeted a “peace” proposal for Ukraine that involved permanently making the Crimean Peninsula part of Russia and potentially recognizing the country’s annexation claims to four Ukrainian territories.

Musk asked his more than 100 million Twitter followers to vote on the proposal, which included conducting United Nations-supervised referendums in the regions Russia annexed to determine which country the areas should belong to, drawing a firestorm from Ukrainian officials.

“This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end — just a question of how many die before then,” Musk wrote.

“F--- off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk,” responded Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Melnyk.

Russia last week laid claim to the four regions, located in Ukraine’s south and east, after holding referendums that were roundly condemned by U.S. and Western officials as a sham.

Moscow also annexed Crimea in 2014, although most of the international community does not recognize the Kremlin’s claims there or in the other regions.

With roughly 2.75 million votes cast in Musk’s poll as of Tuesday evening, 59 percent of respondents had rejected the proposal. Russia, meanwhile, praised Musk’s suggestion, Reuters reported.

Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, blasted those pushing supposed peace proposals.

“Those who propose Ukraine to give up on its people and land — presumably not to hurt Putin’s bruised ego or to save Ukraine from suffering — must stop using word ‘peace’ as an euphemism to ‘let Russians murder and rape thousands more innocent Ukrainians, and grab more land,” he tweeted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to Musk with a poll of his own, asking users which Musk they liked more: one who supports Ukraine, or one who supports Russia. 

Nearly 79 percent of users voted for the first option, with more than 2.43 million total votes cast.

Iuliia Mendel, Zelensky’s former press secretary, told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Tuesday that Musk in March wanted to use his connections with the Kremlin to establish relations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky.

“When Elon Musk goes out with this offer, I guess he just had some relations with the Kremlin, maybe because this comes the same exact messages that we hear from pro-Kremlin propagandists and that we hear from many pro-Kremlin supporters,” Mendel told the network.

The SpaceX CEO activated the company’s Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine earlier this year to improve connectivity after Russia invaded. But he has also at times made statements at odds with U.S. and Western officials, who have sought to punish Putin.

“Lot of bullshit, but some good points too,” Musk said of Russian state-controlled media in a text message shortly after the invasion.

The text was revealed as part of his ongoing legal battle with Twitter.

Musk’s proposal on Tuesday came the same day he notified Twitter that he will move forward with his takeover bid of the company, a reversal that occurred days before the social media company and the Tesla CEO were set to go to trial over the deal.

“This is moral idiocy, repetition of Kremlin propaganda, a betrayal of Ukrainian courage & sacrifice, and puts a few minutes browsing Crimea on Wikipedia over the current horrific reality of Putin's bloody war,” Garry Kasparov, chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, wrote of Musk’s Ukraine proposal.

Elon Musk agreed to pay $44 billion to buy Twitter if a lawsuit brought by the company in an attempt to force him to follow through with the deal is closed, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) uploaded Tuesday. 

Attorneys representing Musk sent a letter to Twitter Monday stating they intend to proceed with the closing of the deal the parties agreed to in April, provided that the court enters an immediate stay in the case. 

The offer to follow through on the deal Musk reached with Twitter on Tuesday comes roughly two weeks before the Tesla CEO was set to face Twitter in a trial over the deal. 

News of Musk’s intent to move forward with the deal at the original offer of $54.20 per share was first reported by Bloomberg News. After the report, trading of Twitter shares halted.

A Twitter spokesperson said the company intends to close the deal with Musk. 

“We received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC. The intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The Hill reached out to an attorney for Musk for comment. 

Musk was trying to back out of the deal over allegations that Twitter was breaching its side by not providing him with information about the number of bots on the platform. He tried to boost his case based on allegations raised by a Twitter whistleblower that in part cast doubt over how the company counts spam bot accounts online. 

Twitter denied Musk’s allegations, and was suing to try to hold the billionaire accountable to follow through with the deal to buy the company.

Zach Schonfeld contributed.

— Updated at 3:41 p.m.

Trading of Twitter shares halted on Tuesday afternoon after reports emerged that Elon Musk proposed moving forward to buy the company at his original offer of $54.20 per share.

The share price jumped by more than 12 percent on Tuesday after Bloomberg first reported the news, saying Musk notified Twitter in a letter.

In April, Musk offered to buy the company in what would be a $44 billion deal, but he had since attempted to back out of the acquisition on multiple occasions, leading to a legal battle with Twitter that is set to go to trial on Oct. 17.

The Hill has reached out to Musk’s attorneys and a Twitter spokesperson for comment.

Musk attempted to walk away from the deal for weeks, arguing Twitter misrepresented how many spam accounts exist on the platform.

His attorneys also tried to back out of the deal over Twitter’s handling of high-profile whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, the social media company’s former security chief who came forward with allegations of widespread security deficiencies. 

Twitter paid Zatko $7.75 million in a separation agreement, and Musk’s attorneys argued the company should have notified Musk beforehand.

Twitter has rejected Musk’s arguments, calling his attempts “invalid and wrongful” and insisting Musk broke the terms of his April offer.

It remains unclear if Twitter would accept Musk’s latest offer.

The Tesla CEO has vowed to make changes to the platform if he takes over the company, including a reversal of former President Trump’s Twitter ban and the introduction of an edit feature.

The European Parliament on Tuesday approved a new law requiring everyday electronic devices sold in the European Union (EU) to use USB Type-C charging ports.

The body voted 602-13 in favor of the law, which will extend to mobile phones, tablets and cameras by the end of 2024 and laptops in spring 2026, enabling consumers to use a singular charging technology for their devices.

The Council of the European Union still must approve the measure before it is enacted, but negotiators reached the agreement in July, so the vote is seen largely as a formality.

“The common charger will finally become a reality in Europe,” Alex Agius Saliba, a member of the European Parliament from Malta, said in a statement. 

“We have waited more than ten years for these rules, but we can finally leave the current plethora of chargers in the past,” he continued. “This future-proof law allows for the development of innovative charging solutions in the future, and it will benefit everyone — from frustrated consumers to our vulnerable environment.” 

The requirement would apply to electronic devices operating with a power deliver of up to 100 watts, including headphones, video game consoles, speakers, e-readers and keyboards.

Lawmakers touted the bill’s environmental effects, noting that chargers account for about 11,000 tons of waste annually in the EU.

Apple has leveraged USB Type-C technology for some of its chargers already. The move would require the tech giant and other companies to solely use USB Type-C in the EU, but it could also lead to changes in other markets.

Former Meta executive Sheryl Sandberg donated $3 million to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to fight abortion restrictions following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the group announced on Tuesday.

“Few things are more important to women’s equality than access to safe and legal abortion,” Sandberg said in a statement.

“Today, over one-third of women in the U.S. can’t access safe abortions,” she continued. “We’ve only just begun to see the devastating impact that state abortion bans will have on women's health, and their ability to determine the course of their own lives. Now, more than ever, we must keep up the fight to defend our right to choose and protect abortion access.”

Sandberg served as chief operating officer of Meta, then Facebook, from 2008 until she stepped down on Aug. 1.

In her departure announcement weeks earlier, Sandberg indicated she would look to pursue philanthropic work after leaving Meta.

“I am not entirely sure what the future will bring – I have learned no one ever is,” she wrote at the time. “But I know it will include focusing more on my foundation and philanthropic work, which is more important to me than ever given how critical this moment is for women.”

ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero in a statement said the group will use some of the money to invest in abortion ballot measure campaigns, referencing Kansans’ rejection of a ballot measure in August that, if passed, would have allowed the state legislature to ban abortion.

"With Sheryl’s support on abortion rights, we can kick it into overdrive and redouble the fight for abortion access in the states,” Romero said. “We will educate voters on where their elected representatives stand on this important issue and turn the abortion issue into a referendum on candidates’ courage and character.”

Republican-controlled legislatures across the country have enacted various abortion restrictions since the high court’s ruling, with Democrats also hoping fury in the party from the decision will energize voters in November’s midterm elections.

The ACLU and other advocacy groups have challenged many of the new laws, leading some to be postponed in the courts.

Sandberg has been a longtime advocate for abortion rights and women's issues.

At Meta, Sandberg became a close confidant of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the company’s rise, which also was accompanied by increasing scrutiny for the tech giant’s acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, data collection policies and the spread of misinformation.

“The debate around social media has changed beyond recognition since those early days,” Sandberg said in her departure announcement. “To say it hasn’t always been easy is an understatement. But it should be hard. The products we make have a huge impact, so we have the responsibility to build them in a way that protects privacy and keeps people safe.”

Sandberg continues to serve on the company’s board of directors.

The White House is urging technology companies to develop artificial intelligence (AI) systems with options for users to opt out of using them and with discrimination protections in mind, according to a blueprint for an "AI Bill of Rights” the administration released Tuesday. 

The blueprint lays out five core protections the administration said Americans should be entitled to as companies increasingly use automated technologies that impact Americans’ daily lives. 

The AI Bill of Rights includes nonbinding proposals without enforcement mechanisms tied to them, though, meaning it lays out a framework for companies to choose to adopt or ignore.

One of the core principles states that users are entitled to alternative options to AI systems, including ones allowing them to opt out “where appropriate” and have a human alternative. The administration’s plan says that in some cases, a human or other alternative “may be required by law.” 

Reliance on automated systems for processes such as content moderation online has been a controversial topic, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle slamming companies over how they choose to remove or keep content online. Republicans have criticized companies for taking too much content down, whereas Democrats have criticized them for not taking a tough enough stance against hate speech or misinformation online. 

But relying more heavily on humans for moderating content would be more expensive for companies than automated alternatives. 

Another principle laid out in the blueprint calls for algorithmic discrimination protections.

“You should not face discrimination by algorithms and systems should be used and designed in an equitable way,” the blueprint states. 

The plan calls for designers, developers and deployers of automated systems to take “proactive and continuous measures” to protect individuals and communities from algorithmic discrimination. 

Other principles the AI Bill of Rights blueprint laid out are a push for safe and effective systems, a focus on built-in data privacy protections and the inclusion of a notice and explanation about the automated systems being used and how they contribute to users. 

“Automated technologies are driving remarkable innovations and shaping important decisions that impact people’s rights, opportunities, and access. The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights is for everyone who interacts daily with these powerful technologies — and every person whose life has been altered by unaccountable algorithms,” Alondra Nelson, the deputy director for science and society at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Deputy.

“The practices laid out in the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights aren’t just aspirational; they are achievable and urgently necessary to build technologies and a society that works for all of us,” Nelson added. 

The blueprint was released as Congress mulls legislative options to force tech companies to be more transparent about their policies and practices. 

There has been a push in Congress to require companies to disclose more information about their algorithms, as well as to pass a comprehensive federal data privacy bill.

The centrist New Democrat Coalition (NDC) on Tuesday backed a privacy bill — currently stalled in the House — that would create a comprehensive national privacy law to protect consumer data and prohibit discrimination based on personal information.

The American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee over the summer with bipartisan support, but has gone nowhere since.

Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), the chairwoman of the NDC, said the "legislation is a big step forward in our effort to ensure all Americans have strong data privacy and security protections under federal law."

"Since our Coalition's founding at the start of the Internet Age, New Dems have been policy leaders on innovation and technology," DelBene said in a statement. "Early on, New Dems worked to tackle the challenges and embrace the opportunities of the 21st Century. Our members have also prioritized advancing policies that make privacy the default and put people in control of their own information."

DelBene urged Democrats and Republicans to "come to an agreement on this critical issue and send a strong national privacy bill to the President Biden's desk for his signature."

The NDC is a House caucus with a more moderate fiscal approach and a pro-business agenda.

The ADPPA, sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), addresses longstanding concerns on how Big Tech handles privacy data, restricting the collection, process and transfer of personal data to only what is necessary for a product or service.

The legislation also generally prohibits the transfer of personal data without the express approval of a consumer, limits discrimination from personal data usage, creates further restrictions on personal data collection for children and requires companies to provide consumers with the ability to opt out of targeted advertising.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) came out in opposition to the ADPPA last month, arguing the legislation does not "guarantee the same essential consumer protections as California’s existing privacy laws."

"Proudly, California leads the nation not only in innovation, but also in consumer protection. With so much innovation happening in our state, it is imperative that California continues offering and enforcing the nation’s strongest privacy rights," Pelosi said in a statement at the time. "California’s landmark privacy laws and the new kids age-appropriate design bill, both of which received unanimous and bipartisan support in both chambers, must continue to protect Californians — and states must be allowed to address rapid changes in technology."

California is among five states that have more robust and comprehensive data privacy laws, along with Colorado, Connecticut, Utah and Virginia.

After passage of the ADPPA in committee, international digital rights advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) also noted the federal legislation would override state laws for what they called a "lower federal standard."

The EFF also criticized the bill for loosening federal privacy laws on large telecommunication companies like AT&T and limiting the ability for individual consumers to take legal action, saying "the bill has no teeth."

A rise in threats against election workers has pushed many to quit over concerns for their safety ahead of the November elections.

Meanwhile, we’ll dive into one woman's journey to help women of color get their start in cybersecurity.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Subscribe here.

Rise in threats sparks shortage of election workers

Officials warn the U.S. is facing a shortage of election workers ahead of the November midterms due to a rise in threats against those performing such jobs that experts link to false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. 

In an interview last month, Kim Wyman, senior election security lead at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said because of those threats 1 in 3 elections officials and poll workers have quit their positions over fears for their safety, and state officials are having a hard time hiring for such positions. 

Experts attribute this problem to inflammatory rhetoric stemming from unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and elections officials were complicit. 

• “Our elections have become very contentious,” said Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.
  
• Jaffer said the country is witnessing a situation where conflict between political parties is now affecting the work of election workers, many of whom are retirees volunteering their time to count votes.
  
• “Instead of respecting that civic duty, now people are taking out their frustrations and anger in politics on these election workers,” Jaffer said. “And that’s a real problem.” 

Read more here.

Google engineer carves path for Black women in tech

The cybersecurity workforce famously lacks diversity, but for Talya Parker, constantly seeing herself on pandemic-era video conferences as one of the few — if not the only — Black woman was a wake-up call.   

“You always know that you’re the minority in the room, but there’s something different about being reminded of it visually every day,” Parker said.   

“And so, I said to myself, ‘Well, what are you going to do about it?’” she added in a recent interview with The Hill. 

Parker, currently a privacy engineer at Google, said she started conducting a Facebook Live series called “Black Girls in Cyber” where she would invite other Black women in security, privacy and other STEM industries to share their journeys and experiences.  

The Facebook events became popular, garnering a lot of attention, prompting one of her peers to suggest that she start a nonprofit organization to address the diversity challenges in the cyber workforce.    

Read more here. 

SUPREME COURT TO TAKE UP SECTION 230 

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear two cases this term on whether social media companies can be held financially responsible for hosting terrorist content.   

• The family of Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen killed during a 2015 series of Islamic State terror attacks in Paris, sued YouTube parent company Google, arguing the video sharing site not only provided a platform for videos containing terrorist content, but also recommended the videos to users.  
  
• The family alleges that YouTube algorithms allowed “hundreds of radicalizing videos inciting violence and recruiting potential supporters” to be targeted to users of the platform.  

Section 203(c)(1) of the Communications Decency Act says companies like YouTube, Google and Twitter are generally shielded from liability for information uploaded by their users, but the case, Gonzalez v. Google, asks whether it should apply when tech companies make “targeted recommendations.” 

• A judge dismissed the case, and the family appealed to the Supreme Court.   
  
• The second case the Supreme Court agreed to hear, Twitter v. Taamneh, involves the 2017 death of Jordanian citizen Nawras Alassaf during an ISIS-affiliated attack in Istanbul.

Read more here.  

KEEPING UP WITH CRYPTO SETTLEMENTS 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday announced a $1.26 million settlement with Kim Kardashian for promoting a cryptocurrency while not disclosing the company paid her for the promotion. 

• The SEC said online cryptocurrency company EthereumMax paid Kardashian $250,000 for publishing an Instagram post on June 13, 2021, touting the company’s selling of “Emax tokens,” but Kardashian did not disclose the payment, in violation of the Securities Act. 

“This case is a reminder that, when celebrities or influencers endorse investment opportunities, including crypto asset securities, it doesn’t mean that those investment products are right for all investors,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement.

“We encourage investors to consider an investment’s potential risks and opportunities in light of their own financial goals.” 

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: What Hurricane Ian shows us about news, real and manufactured 

Notable links from around the web: 

Silicon Valley County Battles With Uber Over Reporting of Sexual Assault (The New York Times / Cade Metz) 

U.S. crafting new rules aimed at curbing China’s advanced computing (The Washington Post / Ellen Nakashima and Jeanne Whalen) 

Inside Sam Bankman-Fried's flirtation with Elon Musk and Twitter (Axios / Lucinda Shen) 

🔌  Lighter click: Not wrong

One more thing: Google cuts translation in China 

Google has shut down its translation services in China, citing low usage in the mainland country.  

Google confirmed the move in a statement to The Hill on Monday after CNBC reported that the website dedicated to the translation service now redirects users to the Hong Kong version of the service.  

“We are discontinuing Google Translate in mainland China due to low usage,” Google told The Hill in a statement.  

Bloomberg News also reported that the Hong Kong version of the translation service isn’t accessible in the area without a virtual private network.  

Google has struggled to gain traction in China amid competition from other web search engines, such as China-based Alibaba, and pulled its search engine from the country in 2010 due to strict censorship rules. 

Read more here.  

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

Google has shut down its translation services in China, citing low usage in the mainland country. 

Google confirmed the move in a statement to The Hill on Monday after CNBC reported that the website dedicated to the translation service now redirects users to the Hong Kong version of the service. 

“We are discontinuing Google Translate in mainland China due to low usage,” Google told The Hill in a statement. 

Bloomberg News also reported that the Hong Kong version of the translation service isn’t accessible in the area without a virtual private network (VPN). 

Google has struggled to gain traction in China amid competition from other web search engines such as Alibababa. It pulled its search engine from the country in 2010 due to strict censorship rules.

The tech giant in 2018 also showed interest in creating a search engine, referred to as Dragonfly, in an effort to allow Chinese residents to view content that was prohibited by their government, according to a Gizmodo report.

The proposed initiative was pulled back after receiving criticism from local politicians and Google employees. 

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear two cases this term on whether social media companies can be held financially responsible for hosting terrorist content.  

The family of Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen killed during a 2015 series of Islamic State terror attacks in Paris, sued YouTube parent company Google, arguing the video sharing site not only provided a platform for videos containing terrorist content, but also recommended the videos to users. 

The family alleges that YouTube algorithms allowed “hundreds of radicalizing videos inciting violence and recruiting potential supporters” to be targeted to users of the platform. 

Section 203(c)(1) of the Communications Decency Act says companies like YouTube, Google and Twitter are generally shielded from liability for information uploaded by their users, but the case, Gonzalez v. Google, asks whether it should apply when tech companies make "targeted recommendations."

A judge dismissed the case, and the family appealed to the Supreme Court.  

The second case the Supreme Court agreed to hear, Twitter v. Taamneh, involves the 2017 death of Jordanian citizen Nawras Alassaf during an ISIS-affiliated attack in Istanbul.  

Alassaf’s family sued social media giants Twitter, Google and Facebook, arguing that the companies did not take enough action to control terrorist content on their sites.

A lower court allowed the case to move forward, but Twitter argued that the earlier decision improperly expanded the scope of the Anti-Terrorism Act and warrants review from SCOTUS.

Both cases could have significant implications for online speech and the role of tech companies in controlling what users share through their platforms.

The cybersecurity workforce famously lacks diversity, but for Talya Parker, constantly seeing herself on pandemic-era video conferences as one of the few — if not the only — Black woman was a wake-up call.  

“You always know that you’re the minority in the room, but there’s something different about being reminded of it visually every day,” Parker said.   

“And so, I said to myself, ‘Well, what are you going to do about it?’” she added in a recent interview with The Hill.  

Parker, currently a privacy engineer at Google, said she started conducting a Facebook Live series called "Black Girls in Cyber" where she would invite other Black women in security, privacy and other STEM industries to share their journeys and experiences.   

The Facebook events became popular, garnering a lot of attention, prompting one of her peers to suggest that she start a nonprofit organization to address the diversity challenges in the cyber workforce.   

And so, she did.   

In 2021, she founded a nonprofit with the same name as her Facebook Live series, seeking to help women of color transition into cybersecurity, privacy and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers.   

The organization provides mentors, scholarships, training and networking opportunities for its members, often collaborating with historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that offer cyber and STEM programs.   

The nonprofit also partners with corporations to create internships and full-time employment opportunities for members interested in pursuing careers in those fields. 

“We’re able to bring these women of color in front of organizations that they wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to connect with,” Parker said, adding that the industry faces widespread worker shortages, regardless of race and gender. 

That was the case for Akilah Tunsill, who transitioned from health care to cybersecurity after working for more than a decade as a nurse practitioner.  

“Transitioning to cybersecurity from a 14-year healthcare career was a huge leap...but working with Black Girls in Cyber has given me a network of opportunity that I would otherwise be lacking,” Tunsill said in a testimonial on the nonprofit's website.  

Tunsill now works as a security analyst at Accenture Federal Services. She’s also an operational board member at the nonprofit, where she heads the cybersecurity curriculum. 

According to a report published last year by the Aspen Tech Policy Hub, only 4 percent of cybersecurity workers self-identified as Hispanic, and only 9 percent self-identified as Black.  

Meanwhile, women make up just 24 percent of the cybersecurity workforce.  

To tackle some of these challenges, the Biden administration hired Camille Stewart Gloster, a former Google executive, to join the White House cyber office to develop the nation’s ecosystem for tech talent including building a more diverse cyber workforce and strengthening cyber education.  

Stewart Gloster is also the co-founder of #ShareTheMicInCyber, an online movement aimed at addressing diversity issues in the cyber field.  

Parker said Stewart Gloster is a former colleague of hers and a friend, and that she was “elated” to hear of her recent hire at the White House.   

Prior to joining Google in 2021, Parker worked in the security risk management and privacy space for Deloitte, Nike and the Georgia Tech Research Institute. 

During that time, she also found time to earn a master’s degree in cybersecurity from Brown University. 

Parker said she decided to pursue that degree because of the wide scope and range the field offers. 

She was also drawn to how the industry is constantly changing, particularly when it comes to laws and technologies related to cybersecurity and privacy. 

“There’s all these different paths that you can take, and some of them continue to be developed today,” Parker said. 

“I think that’s what kept me very curious,” she added. 

But when she got into the industry, she soon realized that there was a lack of minorities, particularly Black women.   

“There weren't a lot of people who looked like me which also made me feel a sense of responsibility to continue down the path and try to be for others what I did not have in this space, like mentorship and guidance,” Parker said.   

At the beginning, Parker said she often felt isolated from her peers, which led to her feeling unmotivated at times, adding that it didn’t help having no one in leadership who looked like her.   

She says, however, she was able to find her path and build relationships with different individuals who appreciated the value of her work and created more opportunities for her to grow.  

Parker added that since the U.S. is a melting pot, the cybersecurity workforce should reflect the diversity of this country, including diversity of thought, skills and backgrounds.  

As for her organization, Parker said she hopes to expand it with more programs, partnerships and financial resources, and she wants to encourage more Black women to join. 

She added that the nonprofit will officially launch its privacy program next spring, and she hopes to have programs in the future on software engineering and product management. The organization also plans to host its first conference in Atlanta next fall.  

“I’m so glad it went from ‘Why am I the only woman of color in the room?’ to ‘What am I going to do about it?’ and then actually doing something about it,” she said. 

Efforts led by a former Facebook product manager to protect kids' privacy online has gained momentum in Congress and state legislatures as lawmakers seek to crack down on how tech companies collect and use children’s data. 

In other news, in the wake of Hurricane Ian, creating technologies that can protect homes from extreme storms is needed now more than ever. 

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Initiatives to protect kids' online gains momentum

Efforts to regulate how tech companies collect and use children’s data gained momentum in the U.S. in the past year — a push supporters credit to a former Facebook product manager who took Washington and Silicon Valley by storm a year ago when she released hundreds of internal documents that offered a peek inside how the social media behemoth operates.  

In the year since Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen came forward, Congress, state legislatures and federal agencies have sought to crack down on how tech firms serve kids and teens. 

• The documents released by Haugen and her wide-ranging testimony to U.S. and global lawmakers dealt with a range of topics, from the spread of misinformation to human exploitation. But her accusations about how the company, especially through Instagram, negatively impacted teen mental health made the most waves. 
  
• “I think the stuff with kids — it just feels so egregious,” Haugen told The Hill. 
   
• “If you went and polled a random sample of people who had kids in the United States, or a child in their life, they would tell you about what social media is doing right now,” she added. 

Haugen, who recently announced her next project, a nonprofit called Beyond the Screen aimed at creating a healthier online environment, acknowledged that the road toward regulation won’t be quick. 

Read more here. 

Technologies that make homes more resistant 

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida Wednesday after slamming into Cuba and knocking out the island’s power grid.   

With such extreme weather becoming more commonplace, the need for technology to protect homes from hurricanes and wildfires becomes increasingly urgent.   

A variety of technologies are emerging, from tough solar panels to 3-D printed walls. 

Well insulated buildings and those made from concrete are more likely to survive an extreme weather event like Hurricane Ian, according to Lionel Scharly, strategic construction advisor at Real Estate Bees.   

That’s why homes are commonly made from concrete in places that experience frequent hurricanes, like Puerto Rico.  

Read more here.  

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES FOR DRUG DELIVERY 

Some types of drugs are not effective as oral treatments and must be given as shots, like insulin. 

New technology that involves a tiny motor in a pill might make oral drug delivery possible for more drugs. 

The pill, called RoboCap, was tested in pigs. 

In the future, diabetes patients could swallow their insulin treatments instead of having to give themselves shots. This could be made possible by innovative research into small pills that are designed to deliver drugs in the gut.  

In a paper published in Science Robotics, an interdisciplinary team out of Massachusetts details the development of RoboCap, a robotic capsule that can burrow past mucus in the intestines to deliver drugs. This device could help drugs get absorbed better and could be an alternative to taking drugs intravenously through shots. 

Read more here. 

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Data privacy bill is flawed, but necessary 

Notable links from around the web: 

Nord Stream pipeline disinformation fits pattern of Russian information warfare (CyberScoop / Suzanne Smalley) 

Elon Musk’s texts reveal what led to Twitter bid, before deal fell apart (The Washington Post / Faiz Siddiqui) 

Elon Musk Slated to Unveil Humanoid Robot Optimus at Tesla’s AI Day (The Wall Street Journal) 

👶 Lighter click: The excuses we give 

One more thing: Biden blames Putin for disinfo

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not intimidate or scare off the U.S. and its allies from helping Ukraine, President Biden said Friday in a public response to Putin’s ceremony earlier in the day that carried out an annexation of Ukrainian territory. 

The annexation move was declared illegal by Ukraine, the U.S., many of its Western allies and the United Nations by officials who said it violated Ukrainian and international law. 

“America and its allies are not going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and threats. He’s not going to scare us or intimidate us,” Biden said from the White House following remarks addressing the federal response to Hurricane Ian. 

Calling Putin’s annexation ceremony in the Kremlin a “sham routine,” Biden committed to providing Ukraine with military equipment and reinforced NATO’s resolve to “to defend every single inch of NATO territory. Every single inch.” 

• Biden also spoke to mysterious explosions on two natural gas pipelines that transit from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, describing the situation as “a deliberate act of sabotage.” 
  
• Europe has vowed investigations but so far withheld assigning blame, although experts point to Putin and Russia as the main suspect. 
  
• Russia has denied responsibility and sought to cast blame on the U.S., a strategy which Biden described as “pumping out disinformation and lies.” 

Read more here. 

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you Monday.

Efforts to regulate how tech companies collect and use children’s data gained momentum in the U.S. in the past year — a push supporters credit to a former Facebook product manager who took Washington and Silicon Valley by storm a year ago when she released hundreds of internal documents that offered a peek inside how the social media behemoth operates. 

In the year since Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen came forward, Congress, state legislatures and federal agencies have sought to crack down on how tech firms serve kids and teens. 

The documents released by Haugen and her wide-ranging testimony to U.S. and global lawmakers dealt with a range of topics, from the spread of misinformation to human exploitation. But her accusations about how the company, especially through Instagram, negatively impacted teen mental health made the most waves.

“I think the stuff with kids — it just feels so egregious,” Haugen told The Hill. 

“If you went and polled a random sample of people who had kids in the United States, or a child in their life, they would tell you about what social media is doing right now,” she added. 

Haugen, who recently announced her next project, a nonprofit called Beyond the Screen aimed at creating a healthier online environment, acknowledged that the road toward regulation won’t be quick. 

She likened the U.S.'s current position regarding the issue to where the country was a century ago in its regulation of cars. 

“We are standing in 1920 when it comes to social media. Because we never got to look under the hood, because we never got to crash a car, we are working on a very, very thin public knowledge base, public expertise base. And I think part of the reason why people have focused on kids so far, is the kid stuff seems the most obvious,” Haugen said. 

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a prominent voice on kids’ online regulation, said the documents Haugen released “confirmed what parents, pediatricians, and young people already knew: Big Tech knowingly prioritizes profits at the expense of the wellbeing of our children and teens.”

“We can’t continue to allow Big Tech to operate computer code without a code of conduct. In the year following these revelations, families across the country have built unprecedented momentum to enact real solutions to the problems laid bare by a brave whistleblower. As a result, we are closer now than ever before to passing legislation that will provide children and teens the online protections that they need and deserve,” Markey said in a statement. 

As the one-year anniversary of the release of the documents, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, approaches, Markey is leading three Democratic colleagues in a letter urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to use its authority to update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) he helped author in 1998. 

“Threats to young people online have reached a crisis point,” the Democrats wrote, according to a copy of the letter exclusively shared with The Hill. 

“The urgency of this issue requires an all-of-the-above approach, and the FTC has a leading role to play,” they added. 

The letter, signed by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Reps. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) asked the FTC to update COPPA regulation to protect kids on the platforms “they actually use” by defining platforms that are directed to children and “have actual knowledge they are collecting data from children.”

It also calls for the agency to use protections that reflect increases in the use of online platforms for educational purposes and in online advertising to children. 

The Democrats’ letter to the FTC comes ahead of a virtual event the agency is holding in mid-October about protecting kids online, as part of its larger effort announced this summer to review and update data privacy rules. 

Support for the FTC’s review was split along party lines, with Republicans railing against the agency for getting involved in action they say Congress should be taking. But on the underlying issue, there’s support on both sides of the aisle to add regulations for how companies collect children’s data or design products for minors.

Two bills about kids' online safety regulation advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee this summer with bipartisan support. 

Markey’s COPPA 2.0 bill would update the law by expanding its protections to cover minors aged 12 to 16, who are not covered by the existing law, and banning targeting advertising to children, among other things.

Blumenthal and Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-Tenn.) Kids Online Safety ACT (KOSA) would address platforms’ design and how they operate for young users, including by creating a duty for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate harm to minors. 

As Congress mulls legislative action, states are forging ahead with proposals of their own. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) earlier this month signed a bill into California law putting limits on the type of data tech companies collect on minors and setting the highest default privacy settings for young users. 

New York state Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D) introduced a bill last week that mirrors California’s guidelines, and even goes a step further to give residents power to take on tech giants by including a private right of action that would allow individuals to sue companies for violating the new standards for kids’ safety. 

“We're kind of treading over a worn path in some ways. Although you always love to be the first and the most novel, we're not reinventing anything here. We’re really following in a couple other jurisdictions, both in the United States and internationally, that have taken these steps. And so I would hope by this point, we can reach broad consensus as to why this is so important and why the solutions are the answer,” Gounardes told The Hill. 

Earlier this month, after Newsom signed the new law, leading senators on the issue met with Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of children’s media advocacy group Common Sense media, in D.C. to discuss how to move forward with proposals like KOSA, COPPA 2.0 and a comprehensive federal privacy law given the momentum on the state level.

The year since Haugen released the documents has also seen some changes from Facebook itself, now under the parent company name Meta. 

In December, roughly two months after Haugen came forward and as a company executive faced a Senate grilling, Instagram rolled out additional safety features for teens, including an educational hub for parents and guardians. The platform also introduced a feature to suggest teens “Take a Break” if they have been scrolling for a certain amount of time. 

This summer, the company increased its safety features even more by adding Instagram features that lets guardians send invitations to teens to participate in supervision tools including setting specific time limits on the app. 

Meta noted that the rollout of safety features for minors predates Haugen’s disclosure, including the release of anti-bullying features to let users delete comments in bulk in May 2020 and the launch of expert-backed earring disorder resources in February 2021. 

Meta has also pushed back on Haugen’s accusations about the company. Last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company was being “mischaracterized” by Haugen's testimony and comment. 

Haugen said changes from the different sectors are all important components in creating what she calls an “ecosystem of accountability.” 

“It's not about passing the magical law, there are no silver bullets here,” she said. 

“One of things that has been really exciting for me is we're starting to see some of those components of the ecosystem of accountability beginning to flex,” she added. 

Haugen said she is optimistic that change is on the horizon, it will just take time. 

“These things don't take two years, they take 20 years — they take 40 years,” she said. 

“We were supposed to start having conversations about governance in 2000. And it is now 2022. And we're just catching up, and it's going to take time. But the important part is that we're having the conversations now, and we didn't get a chance to have the conversations in the past,” she said.

A package of antitrust bills that aim to give enforcers’ more power to take on tech giants passed the House in a bipartisan vote after a heated floor debate.

And as the House was debating and voting on the proposals, the House Democrats’ campaign arm invited members to an event with two Amazon lobbyists, according to a copy of the attendees’ list obtained by The Hill.  

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Antitrust bills pass in the House 

The House on Thursday passed a package of antitrust bills aimed at boosting antitrust enforcers’ ability to take on powerful tech firms in a 242-184 vote that split both parties.  

Thirty-nine Republicans joined most Democrats in voting for the bills.  

Sixteen Democrats broke from their party to oppose the package of bills that together would update filing fees for mergers to increase them for larger deals, allow state attorneys general to select their venue when enforcing antitrust laws and use the merger notification process to require parties to disclose subsidies they have received from countries that pose a risk to the U.S. 

• It is the first major antitrust reform package to pass on the House floor as part of a three-year process that started with a House Judiciary Committee investigation into the market power of Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook, now under the parent company name Meta.  
  
• The House Judiciary Committee last year advanced four other proposals aimed at reforming antitrust laws in a way that supporters say better addresses modern day industry titans. The proposals were created based on recommendations from the report that concluded the investigation. 
  
• But the dwindling legislative calendar may hamper their ability to get the proposals across the finish line, especially if Republicans win the House majority in November. 

Read more here.  

But before the vote...

Democrats’ House campaign arm invited members to an event with two Amazon lobbyists Thursday, ahead of a vote on a package of bills that aim to give antitrust enforcers greater agency to rein in the power of massive tech firms, including Amazon.  

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) event Thursday at noon featured two Amazon lobbyists, according to a copy of the attendees’ list obtained by The Hill. 

Dozens, if not all members, of the House Democratic caucus were invited to the event, according to a former Democratic aide on Capitol Hill.  

“The DCCC is actively raising from Amazon and encouraging the caucus to raise from Amazon at the exact moment when there are House floor votes on antitrust legislation incredibly important to Amazon,” the aide said.  

The Hill reached out to the DCCC for comment. 

The event wasn’t solely focused on Amazon, or tech companies. The roughly 30 lobbyists on the list represented a range of organizations, including General Electric, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood. 

Read more here.

TIKTOK CREATORS BOOST ANTITRUST BILLS 

TikTok creators are campaigning for bills aimed at reining in the power of massive tech firms in videos poking fun at the companies.  

The videos are part of a campaign by the Tech Oversight Project to boost antitrust reform proposals stalled in Congress. Rather than mentioning the bills by name or including legislative jargon, the campaign leans into TikTok’s short-from comedic style to try to reach voters.  

“We don’t have the deep, deep pockets that these tech companies and their front groups have. As you’ve seen throughout this antitrust campaign, through the coalition of advocacy groups that are working on this, we’ve had to resort to creative and scrappier methods to get attention,” Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, told The Hill.   

“We just simply don’t have the resources that the second wealthiest man in the world does and has associated companies,” she added. 

Read more here.  

E-book battle heats up 

Hundreds of authors signed a letter slamming major publishing companies’ lawsuit against a free digital library and urged publishers to update their policies to allow libraries to purchase copies of e-books.  

The open letter published Thursday escalates the battle librarians and digital rights group Fight for the Future are waging against publishers over access to e-books, an issue that librarians say has become increasingly important due to spikes in e-book lending since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

More than 300 authors, including “Coraline” author Neil Gaiman, signed onto the letter, organized by Fight for the Future, calling for publishing companies and book industry associations to end lawsuits the authors said are aimed at “intimidating libraries.” 

“We urge all who are engaged in the work of getting books into the hands of readers to act in the interests of all authors, including the long-marginalized, midlist, and emerging authors whom librarians have championed for decades,” they wrote. 

Read more here.  

DEMS URGE FTC TO OPPOSE AMAZON’S DEAL WITH IROBOT

A group of lawmakers is urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to oppose Amazon’s proposed $1.65 billion acquisition of iRobot, citing concerns about the tech giant’s anticompetitive practices.  

“iRobot is a powerful market incumbent, and Amazon, given its vast resources, history of producing smart vacuums through Terra, and powerful platform, is an extraordinarily significant ‘potential entrant’ into the market: Amazon’s ability to acquire iRobot would cause substantially less competition,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter to FTC chairwoman Lina Khan on Wednesday. 

The letter was signed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Reps. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Chuy García (D-lll.).  

The lawmakers wrote in their letter that Amazon has failed to protect consumers and consumer privacy with its popular Alexa voice system, and noted concerns about its partnership with over 600 law enforcement agencies through its Ring video doorbells. 

Read more here. 

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Time to follow Europe’s lead on social media regulation 

Notable links from around the web: 

People search websites create privacy nightmares for abortion rights advocates (CyberScoop / Tonya Riley) 

In Spanish-language radio war, conservative network shifts from satellite to local after launching (NBC News / Marc Caputo) 

U.S. and Russia Duel Over Leadership of U.N. Tech Group (The Washington Post / David McCabe) 

🥧 Lighter click: Well, she's not wrong

One more thing: Netflix removes LGBTQ tag

Netflix removed the LGBTQ tag from its new true crime show “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” after receiving backlash over the categorization. 

The Netflix show about Jeffrey Dahmer, a gay man who murdered 17 men from 1978 to 1991, is no longer filed under the tag on the streaming service. 

The genres and tags for “Dahmer,” which was released on Sept. 21, now include “Crime TV Shows,” “Social Issue TV Dramas” and “TV Horror,” as well as “ominous” and “dark.” 

The LGBTQ tag is generally applied to educational media and more positive topics for the LGBTQ+ community, such as “Sex Education” and “Heartstopper.” 

Read more here. 

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

VIEW FULL VERSION HERE

Elon Musk wrote that Russian state-controlled media had “some good points” less than two weeks after the country invaded Ukraine, according to texts revealed in a new court filing.

The message was revealed with hundreds of others as part of an ongoing legal battle between Twitter and Musk, who is trying to exit his deal to buy the social media company.

“EU passed a law banning Russia Today and several other Russian news sources. We have been told to block their IP address,” Musk wrote to Antonio Gracias on March 5 after the private equity investor reached out to Musk.

“Actually I find their news quite entertaining,” Musk continued, according to the filing.

“Lot of bulls—, but some good points too,” the Tesla CEO wrote in a separate text.

Gracias, the CEO of private investment firm Valor, served as a director of Tesla for 14 years and helped take the company public.

The exchange came three days after the European Union (EU) voted to suspend Russia Today and Sputnik broadcasts in its member countries. Russia invaded Ukraine days earlier on Feb. 24.

Musk, who runs satellite internet constellation Starlink through SpaceX, had tweeted that he opposed such a move.

“Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources,” Musk tweeted. “We will not do so unless at gunpoint. Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.”

Gracias began the text exchange by apparently referencing the tweet, and the duo went on to agree that the outlets should not be censored.

“Free speech matters most when it’s someone you hte spouting what you think is bulls—,” Musk wrote.

The Hill has reached out to Tesla and Valor spokespeople for comment.