---
title: "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Tech Company? Congress, For One"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/10e861c5-3fbe-4e12-97d9-dc9cb0452c3e
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-tech-company-congress-for-one-2709400
category: "Regulation"
topics: ["Regulation & legal","Technology"]
published: 2019-03-13T22:17:45.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:34:15.588Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/0a315535e8f32b92772532b4a6d735a09782.jpg
---

# Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Tech Company? Congress, For One

**TL;DR:** Congress is holding oversight hearings on big tech companies, proposing new regulations on data collection and user consent. These regulations could impact the way franchisers in the restaurant industry do business, particularly in using anonymized data to inform marketing campaigns and unit expansion.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2019-03-13. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-tech-company-congress-for-one-2709400).*

## Story

Congressional oversight of tech companies like Facebook, Instagram, Google and the like has typically been focused on moderating for political bias.

“But in an abrupt reversal this week, Congress is holding oversight hearings, and lawmakers are proposing new regulations in a crackdown on how big tech companies use and resell their customers' personal information,” according to the article.

Democrats in Congress argue that “self-regulation” hasn’t worked, according to the article, and that data is now being regularly collected about exceedingly personal information without user knowledge or consent.

The companies’ algorithms also collect data from third-party apps, meaning that just because someone has closed out of Facebook, for example, doesn’t mean they’re personal data isn’t still accessible.

For franchisers in the restaurant industry, these regulations could have a significant impact on the way they do business. Increasingly, brands are using anonymized data to identify buying habits and construct buyer personas, the aggregation of which directs everything from marketing campaigns to real estate for future units.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- General (sector)
- Facebook (company)
- Instagram (company)
- Google (company)
- franchise industry (topic)
- Congress (regulator)
- regulations (topic)
- data collection (topic)
- Democrats in Congress (regulator)
- user consent (topic)
- tech companies (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-tech-company-congress-for-one-2709400). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/10e861c5-3fbe-4e12-97d9-dc9cb0452c3e).