The status of the FTC's "click to cancel" rule, which is being challenged by NCTA and others before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 2411220029), is unclear under the new presidential administration, Venable wrote this week. New FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson voted against the rule when it was originally promulgated, and arguments that Commissioner Melissa Holyoak made in her dissent were seemingly echoed in the petitioners' brief before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to Venable. President Donald Trump's executive order requiring regulatory agency leaders to assess rules for potential rescission or modification "add[s] to the uncertainty of the rule's future," it said.

The FCC has sent letters to U.S. tech companies that are regulated under the EU’s Digital Services Act, offering to help them oppose “censorship requests coming from Europe,” said FCC Chairman Brendan Carr in a post-meeting press conference Thursday. Europe's DSA is “very discriminatory” and “Orwellian” and requires U.S. platforms to censor speech, Carr said. The letters -- sent to Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, X, Snap, Wikipedia, LinkedIn and Pinterest -- ask the companies to schedule briefings with him on “reconciling the DSA with America’s free speech tradition” and the role of EU officials in encouraging censorship. The briefings should also include information on the economic and technical feasibility of geofencing -- separating online platforms into two, with one consistent with EU law and the other “for free speech,” Carr said. The DSA “is positioned to thwart efforts by U.S. tech companies to preserve and respect First Amendment principles on their platforms,” the letters said. They highlighted DSA rules against hate speech, blasphemy, insults and speaking ill of the dead, and an impending rule that requires companies to follow the EU’s rules against disinformation. Carr said the DSA could force U.S. companies to alter their content moderation policies to meet EU standards, which would take them away from fostering free speech. The letters give companies until Monday to respond.

NCTA President Michael Powell is retiring by year-end, the cable industry group said Thursday. He has held the position since spring 2011. Powell, 61, spent a term as FCC commissioner, starting in November 1997, and then served as chairman from 2001 through March 2005. Powell's "strategic insight and commitment have shaped the cable industry’s most significant achievements, and his leadership will be greatly missed," NCTA board Chairman and Cox Communications President Mark Greatrex said. NCTA said it would begin a national search for a successor. Powell "will have a lasting legacy in our industry," ACA Connects President Grant Spellmeyer wrote on X. "Thankful for his many years of service to this country and his kind mentorship to me!"

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is warning Verizon about what he says are its diversity, equity and inclusion practices. "While I am pleased with the progress different companies are making" in ending DEI practices, "I am concerned by the apparent lack of progress at Verizon," he said in a letter dated Thursday to CEO Hans Vestberg. Carr posted the letter on X, pointing to materials on Verizon's website where it says it is "deeply committed to sustaining a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion within our company and the communities we serve." The letter also cites media reports about DEI practices or promotions at Verizon. "[P]romoting invidious forms of discrimination cannot be squared with any reasonable interpretation of federal law," Carr said. "It can only deprive Americans of their rights to fair and equal treatment under the law." Carr said that as head of the agency, "it is important to me that the entities the Commission regulates fully adhere to our country's laws." To resolve the issue, he said, "please reach out to the agency personnel working on Verizon's pending transactions with the FCC." The FCC's Enforcement Bureau under Carr is investigating the DEI programs of Comcast and its NBCUniversal (see 2502110063).

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Thursday his actions against broadcast networks are based on precedents set by former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, and his views on free speech and the role of the FCC have been consistent throughout his time there.

Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen said Wednesday that the group is holding out hope that it can still head off a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval (S.J.Res. 7) to undo the FCC's July 2024 order allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services. Windhausen, who will retire next month, spoke during a SHLB webinar.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez’s criticism of potential FCC action on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act “would be more credible” if she had ever expressed concern or regret about former President Joe Biden’s administration “bullying” social media companies, said Free State Foundation CEO Randolph May in a blog post Tuesday. Any FCC action on 230 “would be done in an open manner and be subject to public scrutiny,” May wrote. “Of course, this is much different than the hidden behind closed door efforts of the Biden administration that took place via private emails and telephone conversations.” The U.S. Supreme Court’s rolling back of Chevron deference also means courts “likely won’t simply defer to the FCC’s views,” he said. “I would find Ms. Gomez['s] professions of alarm regarding her claims of ‘bullying’ more persuasive had she sounded the alarm bells regarding the previous administration's content suppression efforts.”

House Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger of Texas confirmed to us Tuesday that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr will speak at the group’s Wednesday lunch meeting. Lobbyists noted reports that Carr would brief RSC about the commission’s investigation of Audacy’s KCBS San Francisco concerning the station’s broadcasting locations and identifying details of vehicles involved in an undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in January (see 2502050051).

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s warning letters to media companies are “a new and coercive technique” for agency action “without needing to follow the niceties of commission votes and judicial review,” and an agency opinion on tech platform liability would likely follow the same pattern, wrote former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a post Tuesday for the Brookings Institution. Rather than aiming at the deregulation often emphasized by conservatives, Carr is increasing the regulatory reach of the FCC “to attack corporate decisions he and [President] Donald Trump do not like,” Wheeler said. “Acting through coercion rather than regulation appears to be a workaround of the limits placed on agency authority by recent Supreme Court decisions sought by conservatives.” Rather than using agency processes to investigate matters and build a record, Carr is “unilaterally reaching a conclusion” and initiating enforcement proceedings, Wheeler said. “While this may be possible under the agency’s procedures, the result is anything but procedural and transparent.”

Anyone with a transaction before the FCC should "move with all deliberate speed" to identify and end "any invidious forms" of diversity, equity and inclusion discrimination at their company, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a Policyband interview published Monday. Asked about the Department of Government Efficiency auditing the FCC, Carr said the agency is "doing a soup-to-nuts review" of its multimillion-dollar contracts. "I'm confident there is a lot of fat at the FCC that we'll be able to trim." Carr said the FCC is "somewhat differently situated" from some other regulatory agencies -- the Communications Act doesn't include for-cause removal protection of FCC commissioners -- and it's "aligned with the policies" in the executive order directing the FCC and other federal agencies to submit for review all proposed and final regulatory actions to the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs before they appear in the Federal Register (see 2502180069).