With the USF contribution factor at an all-time high (see 2103020032), reform must be addressed “head-on,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr during a Free State Foundation event Tuesday. The contribution factor has been “spiraling,” he said.
Section 230
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., will introduce legislation, potentially this week, to amend Communications Decency Act Section 230 liability protections, giving consumers the ability to sue when harmed by illegal online content, she said Monday (see 2009240062). Her Online Consumer Protection Act will be part of the discussion when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testify Thursday before House Commerce Committee members (see 2103190054), said Schakowsky during an event hosted by Common Sense Media and the Real Facebook Oversight Board.
The FTC shouldn’t police speech, but it can enforce whether platforms are honoring terms of service through content moderation and Communications Decency Act Section 230 activity, FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson said Friday. Speaking on a Free State Foundation webcast, she said Section 230 blanket immunity is an intrusion into the market with a significant impact on competition.
The FTC needs to review past agency antitrust analysis to determine where tools have been misused and what predictions have been incorrect, acting Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter told the House Antitrust Subcommittee Thursday. She responded to Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., and ranking member Ken Buck, R-Colo. Those lawmakers' opening remarks questioned FTC reported reluctance in 2013 to pursue an antitrust lawsuit against Google, despite a recommendation from agency investigators.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, reintroduced legislation Wednesday that would amend Communications Decency Act Section 230 and require online platforms to remove illegal content within days, as expected (see 2102030060). Under the Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (Pact) Act, platforms would need a “defined complaint system that processes reports and notifies users of moderation decisions within twenty-one days, and allows consumers to appeal.” The bill would make platforms “more accountable for their content moderation policies and providing more tools to protect consumers,” said Schatz. Thune called it a “common-sense legislative approach to preserve user-generated content and free speech on the internet, while increasing consumer transparency and the accountability of big internet platforms.” Public Knowledge said it's “a serious, bipartisan effort to consider content-neutral requirements to provide greater transparency and accountability.” Access Now supports the requirements for platforms to have “content moderation policies, explain their moderation decisions, and have an appeal process.” BSA|The Software Alliance welcomed the effort and wants to “avoid unintended consequences and account for the broader universe of technology companies.” The serious proposal contains a “fatal flaw: by subjecting websites to federal civil liability, the bill is far more radical than it appears and would lead to legitimate speech being removed from the internet as websites take a better-safe-than-sorry approach,” said NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's rejection of a lawsuit brought by a California pastor and his religious organization claiming discrimination by Vimeo when it deleted a series of the plaintiffs' videos promoting sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). In a decision Thursday (docket 20-616) by Judges Rosemary Pooler, Richard Wesley and Susan Carney, penned by Pooler, the 2nd Circuit said the video hosting service deletion of the church's account fell squarely in good-faith content policing immunity of Communications Decency Act Section 230. Vimeo "is statutorily entitled to consider SOCE content objectionable and may restrict access to that content as it sees fit," the panel said. Outside counsel for the plaintiffs-appellants didn't comment. Santa Clara University Director-High Tech Law Institute professor Eric Goldman blogged the ruling was a win for internet services, but both Democrats and Republicans have proposed Section 230 amendments that would overturn the ruling. He said the court's reliance on Section 230(c)(2)(A) opens the door for a motion to dismiss.
Increasing resources for antitrust enforcers is one potential area for Senate Judiciary Committee compromise, ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told us Wednesday. It’s something Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has pushed for along with comprehensive antitrust legislation (see 2102040053). Klobuchar will lead the subcommittee’s first hearing this session Thursday (see 2103040033).
Data portability and interoperability could get early movement as the House Antitrust Subcommittee looks to draft bipartisan bills for its antitrust review, Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., and ranking member Ken Buck, R-Colo., told us. At a hearing earlier Thursday, members of both parties showed support for working on portability and interoperability. Buck highlighted both items for potential subcommittee collaboration.
There won’t be legislative announcements from leadership at Thursday’s hearing on tech antitrust, House Antitrust Subcommittee Chair David Cicilline, D-R.I., told us Wednesday. But he expects the conversation to further define specific proposals. Legislative proposals could touch on interoperability, explicit prohibitions on favoring products and services, and nondiscrimination, he said. The hearing focus will be on the power of dominant firms to exclude competitors and favor products and services to make it difficult for entrants to compete, he added.
In his first speech since joining the FCC, Commissioner Nathan Simington told the Free State Foundation via teleconference that he opposes Communications Act Title II net neutrality regulation, indicated he still supports government action to curb non-ISP “gatekeepers,” and seemed optimistic about his ability to influence agency policy while in the minority. "Even commission decisions that don’t command a consensus are formed organically by conversations within the FCC,” Simington said. “The vast majority of decisions are bipartisan.”