Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Monday called for the creation of a federal data protection agency dedicated to making sure Americans are protected from online data-sharing algorithms that can affect their lives.
"Right now, our data is being sold, sometimes just to the highest bidder," the New York Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I'm a mom of two boys. Every time they download an app, what are they agreeing to without their knowledge? Are they giving away their location data, are they giving away their search histories, are they giving away their personal data?"
Such data sharing can "affect all of our futures," said Gillibrand. "It might determine whether you get a job, whether you get a mortgage, whether you get life insurance, whether you get health insurance."
She also warned that data scraping could get into the wrong hands, which "creates enormous security risks for each and every one of us...we need a bipartisan action to hold these big data companies accountable and we need reform."
Gillibrand, who dropped out of the race for the Democrats' presidential nomination in August, said she thinks Sen. Bernie Sanders is now a frontrunner because he's talking most about solutions for healthcare, education, and jobs that people find appealing.
"Voters are looking for the candidates that are talking about the things they care about," Gillibrand, such as health care and education, including making college affordable and bringing improvements to public schools.
She said Americans also are looking for solutions on job training so that more people can build their way into the middle class.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.