Fact checking the FCC: Is consumer protection in its DNA?

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission’s recent report, Empowering the 21st Century Consumer, outlines “recent actions that the FCC has taken to protect consumers while promoting the competition and ingenuity that keep our markets thriving.” The report, which grandstands on questionable and litigated FCC rulemaking and enforcement actions, appears to be timed with the FCC’s next open meeting, when the agency will vote on controversial online privacy rules. On page 3 of their report, the FCC claims that “protecting consumers is part of its DNA.” Similarly Chairman Wheeler announced in an op-ed timed with the release of the report that “We’re here to reinforce consumer rights.”

However, a review of the FCC’s rules and the 1934 Communications Act that founded the agency shows that consumer protection was not a base concept of the agency at all. At best, one could argue that this concept has evolved as a (quite liberal) interpretation of the FCC’s mission. At worst, it’s a statement the FCC makes up to justify rulemaking which is otherwise not part of their mission — perhaps even unlawful. While the notion of consumer protection is sovereign, the FCC does not conform to any such consumer bill of rights. Rather, the agency seems to define “consumer rights” to suit its preferred policy outcomes.

[Layton is a PhD Fellow at the Center for Communication, Media, and Information Technologies (CMI) at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, Denmark.]