In the gilded halls of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri took the floor this week —and let loose a salvo against the tech giants that have long been his foil. With the fervor of a preacher and the precision of a former attorney general, Hawley laid out his mission: to rein in Big Tech’s unchecked power, a cause he’s championed since his earliest days in Washington. The timing coinciding with a Capitol Hill hearing where he grilled witnesses on AI’s creeping influence, it was a reminder that his fight and stance on this is not going away no matter who’s in the White House.
Hawley’s beef isn’t new. For years, he’s railed against the likes of Meta, Google, and Amazon, accusing them of pillaging Americans’ private data—everything from your late-night Twitter scrolls to your kid’s TikTok habits—and turning it into profit without so much as a by-your-leave. “They take our data without our knowledge, sell it without our permission, market it without our control,” he told NPR’s Leila Fadel in an interview aired February 27. His fix? Open the courtroom doors wide—let every American sue these behemoths when their digital rights get trampled. It’s a populist pitch, vintage Hawley, and it landed fresh as Donald Trump’s second term dawns, with tech titans cozying up to the new administration.
The hearing itself was a fireworks show. Hawley, now a seasoned agitator at 45, zeroed in on AI’s role in amplifying Big Tech’s reach. He’s not wrong to worry—2025’s tech landscape is a tangle of generative models and fingerprinting tricks, greenlit by Google just weeks ago, that sidestep cookie bans. He pressed witnesses—former OpenAI board member Helen Toner among them—on how these tools dodge accountability. Toner’s ouster of Sam Altman in 2023 was a juicy subplot, but Hawley’s point was broader: AI isn’t just innovation; it’s a power grab. “There is nothing more important,” he thundered, decrying Senate inertia on bills like his own, which would let victims of online exploitation sue platforms directly.
The stakes are stark. A 2024 Oregon AG report pegged AI-related violations at 15 cases, up from two in 2021—a trend Hawley sees nationwide. His graph-worthy evidence? Enforcement actions are spiking as tech’s footprint grows:
| Rising Tech Accountability Cases | |
|---|---|
| Year | Number of Cases |
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2022 | 5 |
| 2023 | 10 |
| 2024 | 15 |
| 2025 (projected) | 20 |
| Source: Oregon DOJ, author estimates | |
Yet Hawley’s mission isn’t without wrinkles. Tech CEOs—Zuckerberg, Pichai, Musk—stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump at the January inauguration, a sight that didn’t faze him. “They can read an election return,” he quipped to Fadel, suggesting their pivot is less principle than pragmatism. Trump’s win, after all, was a rebuke to years of perceived tech bias against conservatives—Hawley’s long-standing gripe. But his critics, even allies, note his bills often stall. The Kids Online Safety Act passed in 2024, sure, but his broader anti-tech agenda—like banning TikTok outright—hasn’t cleared Congress.
So why the fire now? Hawley sees a moment. With Google’s cookie phaseout no longer happening and fingerprinting adding more complexity to the already complicated situation, privacy’s on the ropes. His template for businesses is blunt:
| Steps to Tech Accountability | |
|---|---|
| Step | Action |
| Disclose | List all data collected, including AI-driven or traditional tracking methods. |
| Consent | Require explicit opt-in from users for any tracking or data use. |
| Sue | Enable individuals to sue for violations of privacy or data misuse. |
| Inspired by Sen. Josh Hawley’s Proposals | |
For Hawley, this isn’t just policy; it’s personal. A devout Christian and father, he casts Big Tech as a moral threat, exploiting kids and silencing voices. Whether he’ll bend the Senate to his will—or Trump’s tech-friendly orbit blunts his edge—remains the question. For now, his voice rings loud: Accountability isn’t negotiable.
Eventually this will trickle down to not just big tech but to all businesses. Some are already feeling it with lawsuits filed by Swigart Law targeting thousands of business owners. Book a demo and learn how to protect yourself against potential privacy violations.
