Washington Post

[Commentary] The power of Facebook, Twitter, Google and others, and the democratic threat that they represent, comes not from the content they show but how they show it. The closed algorithms that drive their feeds and streams also shape and bound our associational spaces. These systems know who we meet with, they determine who we hear from and they decide which voices we cannot escape. As a result, these digital companies have become arbiters, managers and record keepers of our associational lives.

Comcast and Verizon have both asked the Federal Communications Commission to make clear that the FCC's new policy on network neutrality — which could be put to a vote as early as Dec — will preempt state and local regulations that might read differently. The request marks the industry's latest step to weaken federal rules that regulate broadband companies like legacy telephone companies. The broadband industry fears that even if the FCC succeeds in deregulating, states could take steps “countermanding” the federal agency's decision, according to the Verizon white paper.

Fox News has canceled ads purchased by Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer that call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment, CNN’s Brian Stelter confirmed. “Due to the strong negative reaction to their ad by our viewers, we could not in good conscience take their money,” Fox News told Stelter. Steyer said that Fox News informed him on Oct.

The Internet Association -- which counts Google, Facebook, Twitter and others among its members -- reversed course and said it will support the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), a bill designed to make it easier to sue websites that enable sex trafficking online. The bill has been a source of tension between the technology industry and Washington for months.