On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a markup of the Open App Markets Act, legislation that would mandate that Apple allow the installation of unvetted “sideloaded” apps on iPhones. Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla both used the markup to raise serious concerns about the legislation, including the bill’s scope, cybersecurity threats posed to consumers, and the fact that the bill would prohibit app stores from blocking apps that spread misinformation and hate speech.

Below is a collection of their remarks, including video links to their full statements:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)“For a company to be covered by the bill, the company must have 50 million users in the United States. I’m concerned that this number was selected as a way to single out particular companies, rather than because of the policy goals.”

Watch the full remarks by Sen. Dianne Feinstein

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA)“I want to flag a concern that in trying to address the ability of app store operators to limit the discoverability of third-party apps, in Section 3(e) of the bill, page 4, we may be unintentionally providing an avenue for propagators of hate speech that dispute their placement within app stores.”

Watch the full remarks by Sen. Alex Padilla

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