Communications Decency Act Section 230 can be modified to ensure it’s not abused by tech companies seeking to avoid legitimate civil liability, FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said on C-SPAN's The Communicators, to have been televised this weekend. Section 230 is important for a thriving internet, but there are concerns about tech companies using it as a shield against civil liability outside the statute's scope, she said. She said requiring viewpoint neutrality doesn’t have any basis in the law concerning Section 230. It’s difficult to visualize any actions the FTC could take consistent with its legal mandates in response to President Donald Trump’s social media executive order (see 2009220049), she said. The FTC isn’t “political speech police,” the Democratic commissioner added, calling the EO “confounding” from a legal basis. Slaughter supports an FTC study on targeted advertising, which Commissioners Rohit Chopra and Christine Wilson also support. There should be transparency in the “black box” into which platforms funnel data, Slaughter said. Congress needs to look at court cases that limited antitrust enforcement, and the agency needs more antitrust resources, she argued. With large companies, agencies are likely to find anticompetitive activity, which her agency needs to examine, she said. The next administration should reinstate net neutrality rules and return broadband to the FTC’s purview as a Communications Act Title II service, she said.
Section 230
First Amendment objections to FCC control of internet platforms under Communications Decency Act Section 230 are “truly a red herring, designed to obscure whose rights are being violated,” Adam Candeub, acting NTIA administrator, said in an FCBA webinar Thursday. President Donald Trump withdrew Mike O’Rielly's renomination to another term on the FCC after the commissioner expressed such concerns (see 2008210055). Other speakers slammed the Trump move to exercise more control over the internet, calling it an abuse of power. Commissioner Brendan Carr said he’s ready to move ahead on rules.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will consider Section 230 legislation at Thursday’s 10 a.m. markup in 325 Russell (see 2009220064). The Online Content Policy Modernization Act (S-4632) from Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was held over from this week’s markup. This past Thursday, some said the FCC doesn't need more authority to act on NTIA's petition to clarify Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2009240058).
Draft legislation will be circulated next week that would “fundamentally alter” tech companies' business models, House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said during a hearing. Her draft bill will be aimed at giving regulators and consumers recourse when companies fail to deliver basic, stated commitments, she said. Reached after the hearing, Schakowsky wouldn’t say whether the draft bill directly targets Communications Decency Act Section 230.
DOJ sent draft legislation to Congress Wednesday that would amend Communications Decency Act Section 230 to make tech platforms more accountable for alleged speech censorship and facilitation of criminal activity. The proposal got backlash from the Internet Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association, NetChoice and Public Knowledge.
Anti-conservative bias was part of GOP thinking with recent Section 230-related legislation (see 2009080082), Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told us, calling his Communications Decency Act bill a “very reasonable proposal.” Academics likened the legislation to President Donald Trump’s social media executive order (see 2007230072), saying both are driven by unfounded claims of bias.
The FCC has power to regulate social media, and the First Amendment supports the Trump administration’s petition for rulemaking, NTIA replied Friday (see 2009020064). The commission can require disclosure of information services under the Communications Act, and courts have ruled “search engines, browsers and internet social media precursors such as chat rooms are information services,” wrote acting Director Adam Candeub. He asked to grant its petition for Communications Decency Act Section 230 rulemaking.
House Communications Subcommittee members in both parties delivered Thursday on expectations for a highly partisan FCC oversight hearing (see 2009160076) in which many lawmakers gave what they viewed as their final verdict on the commission’s performance under Chairman Ajit Pai. Democrats castigated what they saw as the FCC's missed opportunities on telecom policy, including not doing more to improve connectivity amid COVID-19. Republicans defended Pai as doing as much as he could under statutory authority. The House Commerce Committee’s own policy track record during this Congress came into question amid renewed pressure for a compromise on aid legislation.
A Thursday House Communications Subcommittee hearing is expected to feature partisan dueling assessments of the FCC's performance under Chairman Ajit Pai, capping off subcommittee Democrats’ often-rancorous relationship with commission Republicans this Congress (see 1901160031). Communications Democrats said the hearing will focus on FCC “lost opportunities” during President Donald Trump’s administration, including actions they say widened the digital divide (see 2009100066). The hearing begins at 10 a.m.
It’s unlikely the Senate will significantly move forward in consideration of FCC nominee Nathan Simington before the November election, if at all this year, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews this week. The White House said Tuesday President Donald Trump intended to nominate Simington, currently a NTIA senior adviser, to the seat held by Commissioner Mike O’Rielly (see 2009150074). The White House formally sent Simington's nomination to the Senate Wednesday. Trump revoked O’Rielly’s renomination in early August (see 2008030072).