Where do Harris and Trump stand on tech policy?

Vice President Harris and former President Trump are locked in a tight race for the White House, offering starkly different views for the future of the country.  

However, their stances on tech policy — from antitrust enforcement to artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency — have occasionally overlapped.  

When asked to comment on their policy stances, a Trump campaign senior advisor said that the former president was the “clear choice,” arguing Harris’s agenda has “stifled innovation.”  

The Harris campaign did not respond to The Hill’s request for more details on her technology policy plans.  

Here’s where the two candidates align and diverge on the issues. 

Antitrust and Big Tech market power 

During the end of Trump’s first term, his Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took aim at Big Tech, bringing antitrust suits against Google and Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company.  

The two agencies have ramped up antitrust enforcement under Biden, bringing a second case against Google in addition to cases against Amazon and Apple. In a major win for the administration, a federal judge ruled in August that Google maintained an illegal monopoly over online search. 

Trump’s record on antitrust, as well as his running mate’s previous comments on the issue, could potentially signal an interest in continuing the trend of increased enforcement.  

Earlier this year, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) voiced support for Biden’s FTC Chair Lina Khan, a controversial figure even in the Democratic Party.  

“A lot of my Republican colleagues look at Lina Khan … and they say, ‘well Lina Khan is sort of engaged in some sort of fundamental evil thing. And I guess I look at Lina Khan as one of the few people in the Biden administration that I think is doing a pretty good job,” Vance said in February. 

However, it remains to be seen where Trump will ultimately stand on antitrust. During a Bloomberg event in October, the former president appeared skeptical of breaking up Google, one potential remedy being considered by the DOJ. 

He emphasized that Google has “a lot of power” and that he would “do something” but suggested a break-up might benefit China. 

“It’s a very dangerous thing because we want to have great companies,” Trump said. “We don’t want China to have these companies. Right now, China is afraid of Googe.” 

It also remains unclear how much Harris’s approach to antitrust will align with Biden’s approach. 

As part of her platform, Harris has promised to "crack down on anti-competitive practices that let big corporations jack up prices and undermine the competition that allows all businesses to thrive while keeping prices low for consumers.” 

However, a key pressure point among Democrats is whether Harris will keep Khan. Some of the vice president’s wealthy backers, such as LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and IAC Chair Barry Diller, have publicly urged her to replace the FTC chair. 

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban, a key surrogate for Harris, has also voiced concerns about Khan earlier this month, prompting progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to defend the FTC chair. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) 

The increasing use of AI in recent years has intensified the debate around the advancing technology, though both major candidates have shied away from specifics on how they would regulate it.  

The Trump campaign has vowed to repeal the Biden administration’s executive order on AI, calling it “dangerous” in its policy platform. Biden issued the sweeping AI executive order last year, which focused on harnessing the technology’s benefits while still managing its risks.  

Trump’s policy platform wrote the order “imposes radical leftwing ideas on the development of this technology” and noted Republicans’ support AI development “rooted in free speech and human flourishing.”  

AI was not a large focus of Trump’s first White House term, though he was the first commander-in-chief to sign an executive order on the technology in 2019. The order laid out a national plan to boost AI and stay ahead of China’s development and directed all federal agencies to work on expanding AI initiatives.  

In the final months of his presidency, Trump signed another order to promote the “use of trustworthy” AI in the federal government.  

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign said it would propose a “historic investment” to ensure the U.S. leads China in AI through scaling up and making permanent the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource.  

Harris also plans to continue the commitments laid out in Biden’s executive order, according to the campaign’s policy and economic opportunity handbook.  

Harris hails from California, where she developed a relationship with some Silicon Valley leaders during her time in the San Franciso Bay Area.  

She has brought that perspective to the Biden administration and made clear in her speech at the Global Summit on AI Safety last year the U.S. must be able to both boost innovation while protecting the public.   

“President Biden and I reject the false choice that suggests we can either protect the public or advance innovation. We can and must do both ...This is a moment of profound opportunity. The benefits of AI are immense,” she said at the London summit, noting its potential role in climate and the medical and science worlds.  

Cryptocurrency 

The cryptocurrency industry has recently gained power and prominence in Washington and both major presidential candidates took steps this fall to appeal to voters with digital currency. 

Both Harris and Trump have embraced cryptocurrency to an extent on the campaign trail, marking a notable difference from both Biden and the Republican nominee’s previous term.  

Harris has sought to differentiate her approach from the Biden administration, which has received pushback for its crypto-critical regulators and policies of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler.  

The vice president issued one of her strongest statements on digital currencies at a September Wall Street fundraiser, telling donors, “We will encourage innovative technologies like AI and digital assets while protecting investors and consumers.”  

Cuban, who has advocated for crypto and criticized the Biden administration’s hardline stance, said in September that Harris made clear she supports advancing new technology and “wants us to continue to be a technological leader in AI and crypto technologies and more.”  

Trump also notably shifted his stance on crypto after once dismissing crypto as a “scam.” The former president has since pledged to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” if reelected and has emphasized the importance of maintaining an edge on foreign adversaries.  

Trump campaign senior advisor Brian Hughes told The Hill crypto innovators and others in the space “are under attack from Kamala Harris and the Democrats.” 

“No candidate for President has been more supportive of the crypto community than President Trump,” Hughes wrote. “While the Harris-Biden Administration stifles innovation with more regulation and higher taxes, the crypto community knows President Trump is the only candidate in this race ready to encourage American leadership in this and other emerging technologies." 

Trump and his sons also launched a new cryptocurrency platform in September called World Liberty Financial.  

“If we don’t do it, China is going to do it,” Trump said of crypto development in the U.S. during the family’s launch. “China’s going to do it anyway. But if we don’t do it, we’re not going to be the biggest, and we have to be the biggest and the best.” 

The Trump campaign’s platform states Republicans will “end Democrats unlawful and unAmerican Crypto crackdown and oppose the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency.”  

“We will defend the right to mine Bitcoin, and ensure every American has the right to self-custody of their Digital Assets, and transact free from Government Surveillance and Control,” the platform states.  

Trump said this year he would not allow the creation of a central bank digital currency if elected, calling it a “dangerous threat to freedom,” and has emphasized the need for all remaining bitcoin to be mined in the U.S. 

Banning TikTok 

As momentum swelled earlier this year to pass legislation that would force TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company to divest or face a U.S. ban, Harris and the rest of the Biden administration threw their support behind the efforts.  

In an interview in March, Harris acknowledged the benefits of TikTok and emphasized that the goal was not to ban the app. 

“What it serves, in terms of, it's an income generator for many people, what it does in terms of allowing people to share information in a free way and a way that allows people to have discourse is very important,” Harris told ABC’s “This Week” at the time.  

However, she added, “We do have concerns about the national security implications of the owner of TikTok, and that has been our position in terms of what I think we need to do to address those concerns.” 

Biden signed the legislation in April, giving ByteDance about nine months to find a buyer for TikTok before facing a ban on U.S. networks and app stores. The president can give the company another 90 days to sell the app if he deems it necessary. If not, the ban will go into effect Jan. 19. 

This timeline could be affected by the courts. Shortly after Biden put his stamp of approval on the bill, TikTok and ByteDance sued the U.S. government, arguing that the law violates the First Amendment. Both sides have asked for a ruling by Dec. 6 to allow the Supreme Court to weigh in before the ban is set to take effect. 

Despite previously supporting a TikTok ban, Trump opposed the legislation this time around, arguing that it would stand to benefit Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta.  

“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Trump said. “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!” 

In a campaign video in September, the former president urged Americans to vote for him to  
“save TikTok.” 

“We’re not doing anything with TikTok, but the other side is going to close it up,” Trump said. “So if you like TikTok, go out and vote for Trump. If you don’t care about TikTok — and other things like safety, security and prosperity — then you can vote for a Marxist who’s going to destroy our country.” 

However, during his first term in 2020, Trump issued an executive order that effectively sought to ban TikTok. The order was ultimately overturned in court. 

Despite their differing views on TikTok, both Harris and Trump have launched accounts ahead of the election, attempting to tap into the app’s widespread popularity, particularly among young Americans. 

Privacy and kids’ safety 

Social media companies have faced increased pressure and scrutiny in recent years for their handling of users’ safety and privacy on their platforms. A large part of this discussion has centered around the platforms’ impact on kids.  

Harris has not revealed many details on how they would handle regulation or moderation of social media content, though the vice president appeared to support federal measures aimed at boosting childrens’ safety and privacy online in July when she voiced support for the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).  

KOSA, which overwhelmingly passed in the Senate but remains stalled in the House, would create regulations for the kinds of features tech and social media companies offer kids online and aims to reduce the addictive nature of these platforms.  

“I applaud the Senate for passing the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act today. This bipartisan legislation will help protect children's mental health, safety, and privacy online,” Harris wrote on X last July. “I have spent my entire career fighting for the wellbeing of children, and I urge Congress to pass this bill as we continue to invest in our children and their health.” 

Trump has not spoken extensively on kids' online safety, nor data privacy.  

The vice president also has not spoken concretely about data privacy, though her past actions surrounding the issue suggest she prioritizes the protection of consumers’ data.  

As attorney general in California, Harris created a “Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit” in 2012 focused on protecting consumer and individual privacy and reached an agreement with phone applications to improve privacy protections that same year.