FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel confirmed Thursday she has received a letter from acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen asking that the agency mandate voluntary protections for radio altimeters agreed to by Verizon and AT&T in the C band (see 2206170070) for 19 other providers who bought spectrum in the record-setting auction. “I have seen the letter” and “we are in discussions with our colleagues at NTIA,” Rosenworcel told reporters after the FCC meeting. Commissioner Brendan Carr said he was happy to look at FAA concerns, but believes the time to raise new objections has passed.
Social media platforms lack accountability for hosting harmful content because of Communications Decency Act Section 230, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said in a report released Tuesday. The report showed Payton Gendron, the alleged mass shooter who killed 10 black people in Buffalo in May, was radicalized on fringe platforms like 4chan. Platforms largely provided an uneven response to his livestreaming efforts, the report said. James’ office reviewed thousands of pages of documents and social media content to explore how the alleged shooter used platforms to “plan, prepare and publicize his attack,” James said. Gendron was radicalized through “virtually unmoderated websites and platforms that operate outside of the mainstream internet, most notably 4chan,” James said, and livestreaming platforms like Twitch were “weaponized to publicize and encourage copycat” attacks. Section 230 allows “too much legal immunity” for platforms, even “when a platform allows users to post and share unlawful content,” James said.
The Supreme Court will consider two appeals of appellate court decisions on social media companies' legal protections when their platforms are used in conjunction with terror attacks. On Monday, SCOTUS granted certiorari in docket 21-1333 in an appeal of a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision tossing out a suit against Google's YouTube for hosting and recommending ISIS proselytizing and recruitment videos. Plaintiff in the litigation and SCOTUS petitioner is the estate of Nohemi Gonzalez, a U.S. citizen who was killed in ISIS attacks there in 2015. The petitioner asked SCOTUS to revisit the 9th Circuit's holding that the Communications Decency Act's Section 230 protects YouTube's algorithm for recommending videos. Google didn't comment. The court also granted cert Monday in docket 21-1496, in which Twitter is appealing another 9th Circuit decision. In that decision, the appellate court found Twitter and co-defendants Facebook and Google could be held liable for aiding and abetting an act of terrorism. Twitter and the others were sued by American relatives of Nawras Alassaf, a Jordanian killed in an ISIS attack in Istanbul in 2017. “These cases underscore how important it is that digital services have the resources and the legal certainty to deal with dangerous content online," Computer and Communications Industry Association President Matt Schruers said in a statement. “Section 230 is critical to enabling the digital sector’s efforts to respond to extremist and violent rhetoric online, and these cases illustrate why it is essential that those efforts continue.” SCOTUS "can really do something useful by constraining Section 230 protections to hosting content instead of targeting content," tweeted Matt Stoller, American Economic Liberties Project research director.
House GOP leaders formally unveiled their “Commitment to America” midterm election policy platform Friday at an event in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, but the plan’s proposals for reining in Big Tech didn’t get mention from party leaders. The proposal calls for “greater privacy and data security protections for Americans,” supplying “parents with more tools to keep their kids safe online” and preventing “companies from putting politics ahead of people.” Big Tech “has tipped the scales to silence and censor those with conservative viewpoints,” the House GOP’s plan said: “Worse than crystalizing [sic] an ideological echo chamber, these apps have proven to be incredibly addictive for children with potentially devastating consequences.” House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who would likely become panel chair if the GOP wins control of the chamber in the November election, later talked about the tech proposal during a Fox Business Channel appearance. She cited interest in revisiting Communications Decency Act Section 230, noting major social media companies have been more interested in “censoring conservative speech online” than stopping “criminal activity” committed via their platforms. “I’m sending letters to many of the big tech companies like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram and telling them they need to do more to stop the fentanyl sales that are killing our children,” Rodgers said. She earlier this month cited instances in which young people have had access to drugs, often laced with fentanyl, using Snapchat (see 2209150061).
Law professors and advocacy groups consider Friday’s 2-1 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding Texas social media law HB 20 in NetChoice v. Ken Paxton an outlier with uncertain effects on social media platforms, but they widely expect the matter to go to the Supreme Court. “This is far from over; there are a lot of hurdles between here and this law taking effect,” said Tech Freedom Internet Policy Counsel Corbin Barthold Monday during a livestreamed panel on the decision. “It is really unclear how platforms could continue to function,” said Blake Reid, director-University of Colorado Samuelson-Glushko Technology Law & Policy Clinic. Plaintiff NetChoice declined to comment on whether it will appeal the case.
A potential legislative proposal from Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that would create a new tech regulator (see 2209120059) is dividing the Senate.
“Holding Big Tech accountable” will be one of House Commerce Committee Republicans’ top priorities if their party wins a majority in the chamber in the November election, ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said during a Thursday Punchbowl News event. “We need to hold Big Tech accountable” in a bigger way than has happened during this Congress, Rodgers said: She supports “narrowing [Communications Decency Act] Section 230 protections, especially for the larger companies” that have been “bad actors,” so “they can be held accountable” for censorship. Rodgers touted Republicans’ Big Tech Censorship and Data Task Force and language in House Commerce’s stalled (see 2209010066) American Data Privacy and Protection Act (HR-8152) that “would protect” personal information for users under age 17. The GOP also aims to ensure “small companies and innovators can still have access” to a “free internet” so “they can compete,” she said. Rodgers cited TikTok and Snapchat as among the worst actors in the tech space. She cited TikTok’s “impact on kids” and the “amount of data” that app collects that’s “being stored in China or used in China.” She criticized Snapchat over instances in which young people have had access to drugs, often laced with fentanyl, using the app (see 2110260070). Snapchat and TikTok didn’t comment. Rodgers said her shorter-term goals include ensuring language to temporarily extend the FCC’s spectrum auction authority past Sept. 30 makes it into a planned continuing resolution to fund the federal government past that date (see 2209090053). The House already “did our work” by passing the Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624), which would renew the FCC’s authority for 18 months (see 2208090001), she said: “It would be unfortunate” if the agency’s existing authority expires and “I don’t believe anyone wants to see that” happen.
Policymakers should remove special legal protections for tech platforms under Communications Decency Act Section 230, increase algorithm transparency and set clear data collection limits, the White House said Thursday, outlining principles for enhancing competition and tech accountability.
Australia’s High Court correctly acknowledged that facilitating access to online content shouldn't “give rise to liability” for the facilitator, Public Knowledge said Wednesday. The High Court ruled Wednesday in Google v. Defteros that Google isn’t a publisher of sites it links. A “hyperlink is merely a tool which enables a person to navigate to another webpage,” the High Court wrote, overturning a Supreme Court of Victoria ruling saying Google is a publisher for linking news articles. The decision “provides additional strength for promoting a free and open internet where a diversity of views can flourish,” PK Government Affairs Director Greg Guice said. PK noted the concurring opinion raised an “interesting issue” on whether protection should be extended to paid content between Google and third parties. PK has “argued that such business dealings should be outside the scope of Section 230 protections because when the parties promoting content have a financial incentive to amplify the number of people who view said content, these parties should also have an incentive to more carefully examine the content they are promoting,” said Guice.
Tech and antitrust staffers on the Senate Commerce and Senate Judiciary Committees top the list of potential successors to FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips, former officials and industry representatives told us.