Hillicon Valley — Nearly 3 in 4 say misinformation a ‘major problem’

Most Americans across political parties say misinformation is a major problem and is contributing to extreme political views and behaviors, according to a new poll.  

We’ll also take a look at Meta’s latest request to have a court throw out the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit targeting the company’s acquisition of a virtual reality company.  

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.

Survey raises Americans’ misinformation concerns 

A majority of Americans say misinformation is a major problem that leads to an increase in hate crimes and extreme political views, according to a survey released Thursday.  

Seventy-four percent of surveyed Americans said they view misinformation as a major problem, and an additional 16 percent see it as a minor one, according to the Pearson Institute-AP-NORC poll. 

• A majority of Americans in both parties said that misinformation raises extreme political views and behaviors.  
  
• Seventy-seven percent of Americans, including 85 percent of Democrats and 72 percent of Republicans, said that it increases hate crimes, and 73 percent said that it fuels extreme political views, including 80 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Republicans, according to the poll.  
  
• Half of those surveyed said misinformation decreases trust in the government. 

The poll was conducted from Sept. 9-12 among 1,003 respondents. The margin of error is 4 percentage points. 

Read more here.  

Meta moves to dismiss FTC’s VR suit 

Meta filed a motion Thursday asking a court to dismiss a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit seeking to block the tech company’s acquisition of the virtual reality (VR) company Within.  

The motion is Meta’s latest action to push back on the FTC’s lawsuit targeting Meta, the parent company of Facebook, after the agency filed a shorter version of its initial complaint last week. The lawsuit was first filed in July. 

A Meta spokesperson said in a statement Thursday that the “FTC’s attempt to fix its ill-conceived complaint still ignores the facts and the law and relies on pure speculation of a hypothetical future state.”  

“There is vibrant competition in the fitness space and across VR, and our acquisition of Within will be good for people, developers, and the VR space. For these reasons, the complaint should be dismissed,” the spokesperson added. 

Read more here.  

HICKENLOOPER CALLS FOR CRYPTO RULES 

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) is urging the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) to issue regulations for digital asset securities through a transparent notice-and-comment regulatory process. 

In a letter sent to the SEC on Thursday, Hickenlooper wrote that existing laws and regulations do not apply to how crypto assets are being used on the market. 

He said the lack of a coordinated regulatory framework can create “uneven enforcement” and deprive potential investors “a clear understanding of how they are protected from fraud, manipulation, and abuse.”  

The lawmaker asked the agency to clarify what types of digital assets are securities, address how to issue and list digital securities, establish a registration service for digital asset security trading platforms, set regulations on how trading and custody of digital assets should be carried out, and determine what disclosures are required for potential investors to be informed about. 

Read more here.  

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: PayPal just gave America an eerie glimpse into the future. There’s no going back 

Notable links from around the web: 

The Regulators of Facebook, Google and Amazon Also Invest in the Companies’ Stocks (The Wall Street Journal / Brody Mullins, Rebecca Ballhaus, Chad Day, John West and Coulter Jones)

With U.S. nudges, Google and others aim to help Iranian protesters (The Washington Post / Joseph Menn and Yasmeen Abutaleb) 

With New Crackdown, Biden Wages Global Campaign on Chinese Technology (The New York Times / Ana Swanson and Edward Wong) 

🔥 Lighter click: If you can’t handle the spice…

One more thing: Truth Social added to Play store  

Google has added former President Trump’s Truth Social app to its Google Play Store after a holdup over its content moderation plans. 

Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, had criticized the tech giant in August after it said the app did not meet Google’s standard policies, namely having effective systems for moderating user-generated content. 

The app now appears in the Play Store, and Google confirmed the news to multiple outlets. 

Google told CNBC Truth Social agreed to take steps to moderate content in the app, including removing or blocking users who incite violence. 

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.