[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 176 (Tuesday, November 5, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6367-S6368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Filter Bubble Transparency Act

  Madam President, the internet has brought Americans a host of 
benefits: a wealth of information at our fingertips, unparalleled 
convenience, new opportunities for education and commerce, and 
innumerable new methods of communication. But I don't need to tell 
anyone that along with the countless benefits of the internet have come 
a number of concerns.
  One thing that is on the mind of many consumers is privacy. As the 
internet gradually permeates every area of our lives, internet 
companies become the repository for an ever-increasing amount of our 
personal data and our personal information, from what we ate for dinner 
last night to the temperature we like to keep in our house.
  As chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, 
Innovation and the Internet of the Senate Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation Committee, I spent a lot of time focused on data privacy 
issues. This past June, I convened a hearing entitled ``Optimizing for 
Engagement: Understanding the Use of Persuasive Technology on Internet 
Platforms.''
  At that hearing, we heard from a variety of experts about the ways 
companies use consumers' personal data to determine what individuals 
see online. As I said at the time, one reason I decided to hold the 
hearing was to inform legislation I was developing that would require 
internet platforms to give consumers the option to engage without 
having the experience shaped by algorithms that are driven by their 
user-specific data.
  Last Thursday, I introduced that legislation, called the Filter 
Bubble Transparency Act, here in the Senate. I am proud to have a 
number of bipartisan cosponsors on this bill. Senator Blumenthal, 
Senator Moran, Senator Blackburn, and Senator Warner have all 
cosponsored this legislation, and I am grateful for their support.
  The Filter Bubble Transparency Act is designed to address one aspect 
of the privacy problem, the issues that arise from internet companies' 
use of consumers' personal information to shape what consumers see on 
their platforms. Many people are unaware that much of the content they 
see on the internet is determined by sophisticated algorithms and 
artificial intelligence that draw on data about each consumer's online 
activity.
  For example, a recent Pew Research Center study found that 53 percent 
of U.S. adults don't understand how Facebook News Feed works. Many of 
us know that Netflix is curating information and recommendations 
specifically for us based on the movies and the shows that we watch. 
They use past behavior to project what future behavior is going to be, 
and they take all that information and they aggregate it. Then, they 
use that to recommend certain things that we might want to see.
  A lot of us are aware that Amazon is delivering product 
recommendations based on our purchase history. In other words, when you 
buy things online, you see the ads for the types of things that you buy 
online. But the reality is that internet companies have moved far 
beyond just recommending TV shows or just recommending things that you 
might want to purchase. Increasingly, every aspect of our online 
experience is personalized based on the vast amount of information that 
companies collect about us--from our age and occupation to how many 
times we visit certain websites.
  The data used by these companies to make predictions about us comes 
from a wide range of sources--from smart devices like Alexa, Google 
Assistant, Ring doorbells, and Nest devices; scanned emails and 
documents; data acquired from third parties, like banks, credit card 
processors, and health data services, among many other sources. This 
data is used to make statistical predictions about how we are going to 
behave in the future.
  This statistical prediction-making is happening on a massive scale. 
For example, Facebook has stated that the artificial intelligence that 
it uses for its News Feed can make 6 million predictions per second. 
Billions of people are being fed content on internet platforms that is 
basically selected for them by algorithms trying to make predictions 
about what will keep each user engaged on the platform. Clearly, the 
powerful mechanisms behind these platforms, meant to enhance 
engagement, also have the ability, or at least the potential, to 
influence the thoughts and behaviors, literally, of billions of people.
  That is why there is widespread unease about the power of these 
platforms and why it is important for the public to better understand 
how these platforms use the information they collect to make 
predictions about our behavior.
  As I said, a significant cause for concern is that most people are 
not always aware that the information they see is being filtered. We 
are trapped in what one observer has termed the ``filter bubble,'' our 
own private world of filtered search results and tailored content, 
without even knowing that we are there.
  There are real concerns that the ever-increasing use of filters to 
shape our internet experience contributes to political polarization, 
social isolation, and addiction, as well as permitting companies to 
manipulate user behavior.
  My bill, the Filter Bubble Transparency Act, takes aim at these 
concerns by requiring major internet platforms to notify consumers that 
the information they are seeing has been selected for them using 
filters based on their personal data. It would also require these sites 
to give consumers the option of seeing unfiltered results.
  Twitter provides a good example of what the Filter Bubble 
Transparency Act will do. Twitter gives consumers an option to view an 
unfiltered timeline through the use of a prominently displayed icon 
that is easy to access throughout a user's time on that particular 
platform. Consumers have the option of viewing the timeline that 
Twitter has curated for them, which pushes the posts that Twitter 
thinks they want to see to the top of their feed or viewing an 
unfiltered timeline that features all posts in a chronological order.
  That is the kind of option that my bill would give the consumers on 
other types of social media platforms. Consumers will be able to choose 
whether to see an unfiltered social media feed or search results or 
whether to view the curated or personalized content that the site 
chooses for them. It would be an option. We believe this gives 
consumers more choice and more control. They would be able to easily 
switch back and forth between the two options whenever they wanted. 
After all, consumers may want to see the filter-driven content in some 
cases. I mean, I would certainly prefer to see Netflix recommendations 
that are tailored to my viewing history, and if you have 1,000 tweets 
to read, it can be useful to see the ones that you are most likely to 
be interested in at the top of that feed. But consumers should also 
have the option to escape from that filter bubble and to see 
information that has not been selected specifically for them.

  I strongly support a light-touch approach to internet regulation that 
allows the free market to flourish. The internet would not have grown 
the way that it has had it been weighed down with heavy-handed 
government regulations. In order for free markets to work effectively, 
consumers need as much information as possible, including a better 
understanding of how internet platforms use artificial intelligence and 
complex filters to shape the information that those users see and 
receive.
  My bill would provide transparency and consumer control without 
jeopardizing the opportunity and innovation that we have come to expect 
from the tech industry. As internet companies collect and make use of 
more and more of our personal information, it is important that 
consumers know how their data is being used. At an even more basic 
level, it is important for consumers to know that their data is being 
used to curate the content they see.
  That is exactly what the Filter Bubble Transparency Act would do--
allow

[[Page S6368]]

consumers online to know, one, that their information is being filtered 
and that they are seeing content that is being curated for them by that 
particular social media platform, and, two, give them an option to see 
unfiltered and uncurated content that would just come to them in normal 
chronological order.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to advance this 
legislation. I think it is an important first step in making sure that 
consumers know more about their information as it is being collected 
and how it is being used by internet companies. I will continue to work 
as we try to deal with this broader debate on data privacy, which is so 
important in the online world in which we live.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.