President Joe Biden on Tuesday named a prominent Big Tech critic to head the Justice Department's antitrust division in another sign of aggressive moves to counter the dominance of major Silicon Valley firms.

Jonathan Kanter, a lawyer who has represented firms challenging tech platforms, would if confirmed head up the division to handle an array of cases expected against the largest tech firms for alleged monopoly abuses.

The Kanter nomination follows the appointment Lina Khan, an advocate of breaking up the biggest tech firms, to head the Federal Trade Commission, which is also involved in antitrust enforcement.

A White House statement called Kanter "a leading advocate and expert in the effort to promote strong and meaningful antitrust enforcement and competition policy."

Kanter has represented firms such as Yelp and Spotify which have claimed tech giants such as Google and Apple have used unfair practices to thwart competition. He also represented the News Media Alliance in claims that large platforms have stymied media firms.

A former FTC lawyer, he recently started his own "boutique antitrust law firm that advocates in favor of federal and state antitrust law enforcement," according to the White House.

Early indications from the Biden administration suggest a ramped up effort at antitrust enforcement, amid calls by some to break up some of the biggest and most successful Big Tech firms.

Biden earlier this month unveiled a wide-ranging plan aimed at tilting the balance of power away from corporations and towards "the little guy."

Biden described the initiative as a shift from what he called Washington's 40-year "experiment of letting giant corporations accumulate more and more power" as he signed an executive order directing changes on everything from the sale of hearing aids to the disclosure of airline baggage fees.

"We have to get back to an economy that grows from the bottom up," he said.

The order, which drew strong praise from consumer advocates but a scathing response from some industry lobbying groups, outlines 72 initiatives across the federal government and announces the creation of the White House Competition Council to monitor progress.

Instagram tool lets users avoid 'sensitive' content
San Francisco (AFP) July 20, 2021 - Instagram on Tuesday added a way for users to adjust how tightly they want to filter out violent or sexually suggestive posts while they explore the image-centric social network.

A new "Sensitive Content Control" option at Facebook-owned Instagram lets people adjust whether they want to see more or fewer posts that some may find unpleasant or untasteful, according to a post.

"You can think of sensitive content as posts that don't necessarily break our rules, but could potentially be upsetting to some people - such as posts that may be sexually suggestive or violent," the Instagram team said.

The new tool applies to an exploration tool that recommends content users might find interesting at the image-centric social network.

People can stick with the default limit on sensitive posts, or opt to tighten or loosen the restriction.

"One exception to this: the Allow option will not be available to people under 18," Instagram noted.

The filtering option comes as social networks remain under pressure to thwart abusive or misleading posts while allowing people to freely express themselves.

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WhatsApp tests breaking free from smartphones
San Francisco (AFP) July 16, 2021
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