Latest news with #USHouseJudiciaryCommittee
Korea Herald
07-08-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Seoul seeks to ease US fears over platform bill's impact on Big Tech
South Korea's Fair Trade Commission has formally responded to concerns raised by the United States regarding the proposed Online Platform Act, stressing that the legislation will apply equally to all platform operators — both domestic and foreign. In a statement released Thursday, the FTC confirmed that it had delivered an official written response to the US House Judiciary Committee, which last month requested clarification on the potential impact of Korea's platform regulation on American tech firms. 'The bill will be enforced under consistent legal principles and standards without discrimination between domestic and foreign enterprises,' the FTC said. 'This approach will be maintained not only in current law enforcement but also throughout the legislative process.' The antitrust regulator further emphasized that the proposed legislation is still under deliberation in the National Assembly. 'We will collect a wide range of stakeholder opinions and strengthen cooperation between Korea and the United States as the bill progresses,' the statement read. The US House Judiciary Committee previously sent a letter to Korea Fair Trade Commission Chairman Han Ki-jeong last month, signed by Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan and Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust Chair Scott Fitzgerald. The US committee has reportedly expressed concern that Korea's Online Platform Act, modeled after the European Union's Digital Markets Act, could disproportionately target American tech companies such as Google, Apple and Meta. The FTC said that it consulted with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant agencies during the drafting process and reviewed international legislative precedents to ensure transparency and global alignment. The Korean government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea are reportedly considering a dual-track approach for the platform bill — separating it into two parts: a 'monopoly regulation law' aimed at curbing market dominance, and a 'fairness law' designed to protect small merchants. In light of US sensitivities, the administration is said to be prioritizing the latter while delaying the former. Additionally, the timeline for the bill's formal introduction and parliamentary debate is expected to be pushed back until after the Korea-US summit set for later this month. Rep. Kang Jun-hyeon of the Democratic Party, the ruling party's secretary on the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, told local reporters on Monday that discussions on the Online Platform Act would take place after the summit. 'We will listen to the views of the presidential office and the government after the summit and then make a decision,' he said.
Sky News AU
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
eSafety Commissioner linked to global attempt to ‘throttle' free speech
Sky News host James Morrow brutally roasts eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant for her efforts to censor free speech online. 'Well, have I got a truth bomb for you this week – it's all about a devastating report that has just dropped out of Washington, DC, with extraordinary new information about the Australian government's efforts to censor what you can say and do and think online,' Mr Morrow said. 'Specifically, the alleged links between … Julie Inman Grant, Australia's eSafety Commissioner as she is officially known, or as we call her on Outsiders the e-Karen, and a shadowy US-based online advertising cabal which a US House Judiciary Committee Interim Report says set out to throttle advertising dollars from websites and social media platforms, particularly Elon Musk's Twitter, that dared to allow free speech and conservative ideas to flourish.'
AsiaOne
27-06-2025
- Politics
- AsiaOne
US House committee subpoenas Harvard over tuition costs, World News
The US House Judiciary Committee sent a subpoena to Harvard University on Thursday (June 26) seeking documents and communications for its probe into tuition costs and financial aid for Ivy League students. A letter to Harvard President Alan Garber, signed by committee chairman Jim Jordan and US Representative Scott Fitzgerald, both Republicans, described Harvard's response to previous requests for documents as inadequate and said the committee needs the documents "to fulfil its oversight and legislative responsibilities". A spokesperson for Harvard said in a statement: "We are disappointed that the Committee has chosen to issue a subpoena and believe it is unwarranted, unfair and unnecessary." It added: "There is no basis for an allegation of collusion in Harvard's setting of tuition and financial aid." The investigation into tuition is part of a larger fight between Harvard and the White House and Congress, including over cuts to federal funding and efforts to block foreign students from attending the university. President Donald Trump has said he is trying to force change at Harvard — and other top-level universities across the US — because in his view they have been captured by leftist "woke" thought and become bastions of antisemitism. The subpoena comes as part of an investigation by the Republican-controlled US House Judiciary Committee into whether Harvard and other Ivy League schools broke antitrust laws by raising tuition costs. "We are concerned that Ivy League member institutions appear to be collectively raising tuition prices while engaging in perfect price discrimination by offering selective financial aid packages to maximise profits," the letter to Harvard's Garber said. US Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, called the investigation "plainly ridiculous" and "based on pathetically weak allegations". The Harvard spokesperson said the school has produced thousands of pages of documents on its tuition-setting process and financial aid. While the Judiciary Committee said it had received hundreds of requested documents, it added that some of them contained publicly available facts and lacked specific information that was desired. [[nid:719405]]
