Efforts to build infrastructure for 5G are starting to hit a “stall speed” due to a lack of support for the FCC from the White House, said Commissioner Brendan Carr Tuesday in an interview on the Ruthless Podcast. Carr said the Biden administration hasn’t supported the FCC in spectrum battles with other federal agencies the way the Trump administration did. Carr also urged Section 230 reform, which he said is opposed by “media gatekeepers.” He said he’s “hopeful” about Elon Musk’s possible purchase of Twitter but said laws also are needed. Carr said he doesn’t know if there was evidence of Twitter suppressing conservatives on social media, but he wouldn’t be surprised if there was “a run on shredder trucks and burn bags” in Silicon Valley. The biggest challenge now facing the FCC is the specter of waste, fraud and abuse of the recent wave of federal infrastructure funds, Carr said. “I’m really worried we’re going to see billions of dollars wasted,” he said.
Section 230
A 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel debated whether social media platforms more closely align with common carriers or with newspapers and broadcasters in a case that could have major implications for internet speech (see 2204040039). Judges were skeptical of arguments from both the tech industry and Texas during oral argument Monday in New Orleans.
The California Assembly’s Judiciary Committee unanimously passed legislation Tuesday to make social media platforms liable for addiction- and design-related harm to children. AB-2408 would impose penalties on major social media platforms for negligent design.
A looser content moderation approach at Twitter under Elon Musk's ownership risks turning it into a fringe, extremist platform like 4chan, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., told us Thursday. “I’m concerned with what he’s rumored or said to believe” in terms of moderation, said Nadler: “That means you’re going to have all this disinformation on Twitter that wouldn’t have been previously allowed. That would concern me.” The Judiciary Committee will have to “wait and see” whether action is necessary, he said.
An eleventh-hour amendment won’t help Florida overcome constitutional problems with its law making it illegal for social media sites to deplatform political candidates and requiring them to be transparent about policing, and could even help tech industry challengers' case, opponents of the law said Monday.
Digital equity advocates and lawmakers want bigger efforts to bridge the digital divide, they said Tuesday. Some at the Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership’s virtual digital inclusion summit said digital discrimination is a top priority. Others encouraged local leaders to promote the FCC’s affordable connectivity program.
Platforms aren’t common carriers, commenters argued last week in amici briefs before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, siding with the tech industry in a lawsuit against Texas’ social media law in case 21-51178 (see 2204080019). Carriers such as phone utilities are "fundamentally different" from platforms “because they facilitate private communications, while platforms exist for the purpose of publishing users’ speech,” wrote Chris Cox, a former member of Congress from California (R) who co-wrote Section 230 (see 2009020064): There’s no reason to believe telecoms endorse or are even aware of conversations they carry, but platforms can’t avoid being linked to the content they publish, he said. Section 230’s liability shield doesn’t remove a platform’s First Amendment right to choose the content of its own message, he said. By trying to stop censoring of conservative views, Texas “adopted a progressive legal theory to impose its own form of internet censorship,” wrote the Cato Institute: The state’s arguments are “fundamentally at odds with the core First Amendment values of a free speech marketplace.” Social media platforms aren’t common carriers but do have a right to editorial discretion, it said. The First Amendment bars the government from “imposing its preferred editorial viewpoint, even a notionally neutral one, on private publishers,” Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press argued. The new law would allow Texas to impose editorial judgment “not only on the new forms of digital media it targets now, but also on traditional news publishers.” If allowed, the Texas law “will impinge on the critical statutory and constitutional rights all Internet platforms and speakers depend on,” said the Copia Institute, think tank arm of Techdirt publisher Floor64. “Rather than advancing online expression, this law will only suppress it, both through its own direct terms and by opening the door to similar legislation from other states to finish crushing what online platforms and expression are left.”
The Senate Commerce Committee is considering marking up a Section 230-related bill from Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Thune told us Wednesday. Thune and Schatz introduced the Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (Pact) Act (see 2103170058) in 2020. “I’ve been told by some of the leading Dems that we think we’re going to get a markup on it, but I don’t know that it’s been confirmed,” Thune told us Wednesday. Schatz said he “heard things. ... You should keep your eyes open. Just look for hearing notices, etc.”
Former House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said Tuesday he won't seek reelection this year. He’s the 11th Commerce member to announce plans to leave the House either for retirement or to seek another office. Others include Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa. (see 2111120002). Upton has been active in Commerce Republicans’ work on legislation to revamp Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2107280069) and other bills aimed at reining in major tech companies. He also was among the Republicans urging House Commerce to take up a package of bills aimed at streamlining broadband deployments (see 2006250068). Upton’s “announcement is sad to many, for both Democrats and Republicans alike,” said Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. NAB and the Wireless Infrastructure Association also praised Upton’s service.
An Ohio bill to regulate social media companies’ alleged censorship of political views remained in committee after its sixth hearing Tuesday. The House Civil Justice Committee heard testimony but didn’t vote on HB-441, which would classify social media platforms as common carriers and allow users to sue platforms for viewpoint discrimination. Ohio Majority Floor Leader Bill Seitz (R) asked why Ohio should make a social media law when similar, court-blocked laws in Texas and Florida are pending appeal.