Mark Warner: Tech Millionaire Who Became Tech’s Critic in Congress<br />“Mark didn’t come to this point with the social media companies lightly,” said Saxby Chambliss, a retired Republican senator from Georgia who regularly meets with Mr. Warner<br />and the Intelligence Committee chairman, Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, a Republican, to discuss the Russia investigation.<br />And even if they do, lawmakers should still make more disclosure a legal requirement, said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat<br />from Minnesota, who is a co-sponsor of the disclosure bill with Mr. Warner and Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona.<br />The reluctance of the technology companies to take seriously the investigation into<br />Russian election meddling pushed Mr. Warner over the edge, Mr. Chambliss said.<br />The top antitrust enforcer at the Justice Department, Makan Delrahim, said in an interview last week<br />that his agency would watch to see whether the size of technology companies hurts competition, but that size alone was not justification for action against them.<br />“We take this issue very seriously and think it’s important Congress gets the full picture of what happened, including what we know about Russian activity on our platform,<br />and is able to share its assessment with the American public.”<br />But lawmakers said the companies, who have been interacting privately for months, still have a long way to go.<br />The Democratic senator from Virginia is emblematic of the shifting politics for big technology companies, which face congressional hearings this week.<br />“I’m not sure they’ve fully realized the implications of all their power.”<br />This week, Mr. Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, will push for new answers.
