Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Headlines Daily Digest
Today: Federal Communications Commission v. Prometheus Radio Project
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President-elect Joe Biden is set to have a very different relationship with the tech industry from when he served as vice president. Tech companies have grown more powerful over the past four years — and more perilous. They have continued to amass data and wealth. But they have been used as tools for election interference and disinformation, contributing to the divide in the nation. The Biden administration will face pressure to immediately prioritize the expansion of broadband access and dismantle some of the Trump administration’s hallmark efforts to deregulate the Internet. The pandemic is highlighting a persistent digital divide, in which Americans without a strong and affordable Internet connection are increasingly boxed out of work and education opportunities. President-elect Joe Biden promised throughout his candidacy that he would prioritize expanding Internet access as he made fixing the nation’s infrastructure a central tenet of his campaign message. His “Build Back Better” plan, a response to the dual health and economic crises, calls for the creation of “universal broadband" for every American. That could set the stage for Democrats to finally make good on a long-standing push to expand federal funding for Internet access. The Biden transition team is exploring immediate actions it can take to bring relief to Americans in need of an Internet connection.
Silicon Valley braces for tougher regulation in Biden’s new Washington
Internet regulation takes on greater urgency as pandemic highlights digital divide
Social media liability law is likely to be reviewed under Biden
Biden inherits bipartisan momentum to crack down on large tech companies’ power
Shortly after the election, it appeared that Republicans in the Senate hoped to gum up the Federal Communications Commission and potentially block Biden from filling it out. In early December, the Senate rammed through the nomination of Nathan Simington, a person handpicked by President Donald Trump to serve on the FCC whose selection was fraught with controversy because of his connection to the president's much-criticized social media executive order that targeted Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. When FCC Chairman Ajit Pai steps down from the FCC on Jan 20, Commissioner Simington leaves the agency in a 2-2 deadlock down party lines. The goal of getting Commissioner Simington onto the FCC quickly seemed to be so that Senate Republicans would be able to hold off or slow down any pick Biden made to fill out the five person agency and keeping it in a 2-2 deadlock. But that gambit hit a crushing roadblock when Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff were able to defeat Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Sen. David Perdue (R-GA). Democratic control of the Senate could also give Biden more latitude on who he might choose to fill out the FCC.
Two judges on the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals have spent the past 17 years blocking a congressionally mandated modernization of antiquated broadcast-television regulations. The Supreme Court will hear an appeal on Jan 19, FCC v. Prometheus Radio Project, giving broadcasters the chance to be unshackled from restrictions this activist court continues to impose on them—which are contrary to court precedent and statute and make no sense in light of the competition from digital media. At stake are Federal Communications Commission rules that would allow broadcasters to compete more efficiently against less-regulated tech companies, invest more in local news gathering, and strengthen their position as a crucial conduit for free speech. In the face of rising production costs and declining ad revenue, broadcasters must be able to combine defensively, or they’ll start to disappear like local newspapers. Without them, Americans will be less informed and will lose a valuable conduit for free speech. The Supreme Court should overturn the Third Circuit’s decision, direct it to obey Congress’s mandate in 202(h), and reinstate the FCC’s sensible 2017 order. Two judges shouldn’t be permitted to accelerate the decline of local broadcasting by diktat.
[McDowell served as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, 2006-13. He is a partner at Cooley LLP and has submitted a friend-of-the-court-brief in this appeal on behalf of Gray Television.]
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org) and Robbie McBeath (rmcbeath AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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