There’s no obvious path for the FTC or the FCC to regulate online platform speech, FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips and FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington agreed Wednesday. Policymakers struggle to regulate speech that violates community standards when they can’t identify consensus standards, Simington told a Federalist Society event, noting he’s not confident the FCC can or should do anything about speech on digital platforms. “There’s no consensus for speech regulation in the digital media era” and no obvious regulatory path forward, he said.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are “pretty close” to reintroducing the Earn It Act (see 2008050039), without major changes anticipated, Blumenthal told us. He led a Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing Tuesday, where witnesses offered potential solutions for online child exploitation. Blumenthal and ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., criticized TikTok for refusing to testify.
A Texas social media regulation bill cleared the House State Affairs Committee 8-5 Friday. The Senate earlier passed SB-12, which would allow private lawsuits against social media companies that moderate content. It’s one of many state bills seeking to rein in social media amid the federal debate about Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2104190030).
President Joe Biden revoked former President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at addressing what Trump saw as social media censorship (see 2005280060). Trump’s sought an FCC rulemaking to clarify its interpretation of liability protections under Communications Decency Act Section 230. That proceeding didn't advance during the closing days of Ajit Pai's chairmanship (see 2101050060) and hasn't seen movement. Friday's EO also nixed other Trump presidential directives. The Center for Democracy & Technology praised Biden for killing the social media EO.
Communications Decency Act Section 230 and similar language shouldn’t be included in trade agreements, House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., wrote U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai Monday. It would be “inappropriate” to export such language with ongoing policy discussions about Section 230, they wrote: “Given that our Committee closely oversees Section 230 and all portions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, we also hope the Office of the United States Trade Representative will consult our Committee in the future in advance of negotiating on these issues.” Pallone wrote a similar letter to the Donald Trump administration with then-ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore. (see 1908060064).
Representatives from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube denied their business models are based on maximizing user engagement, during a hearing Tuesday in which members of both parties raised concerns. The power of social media companies over people’s lives is “of great concern” to a wide number of legislators, Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Chris Coons, D-Del., told us. “Exactly what statutory, regulatory or voluntary measures can best address it, I think it would be premature after the first hour of our first hearing to say I have an endgame in mind.”
Congress should clarify FTC Act Section 13(b) and “revive” the agency’s “ability to enjoin illegal conduct and return to consumers money they have lost,” all four commissioners wrote in a statement that acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter delivered to the House Consumer Protection Subcommittee.
State legislators are proposing bills to rein in social media, amid the federal debate about Communications Decency Act Section 230. Reasons and approaches differ by party. Left- and right-leaning advocacy organization officials told us they see possible constitutional problems and voiced discomfort with states acting. The Florida Senate Appropriations Committee narrowly passed a bill at a Monday hearing despite GOP and Democratic objections.
In an interview scheduled to air Saturday on C-SPAN’s The Communicators, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wouldn't say whether he supports acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel being nominated as the permanent chair. "I'm not sure my endorsement of a Democrat chair would help or hurt them at this point, so I'll refrain from weighing in on that," Carr said, "but it's been great having her reach across party lines and compromise." Carr said President Joe Biden's infrastructure package ignores the "billions of dollars that we already have in the pipeline to further close the digital divide." The FCC should be allowed time to disburse existing funds before additional funds are approved, he said (see 2104080059). The challenge is coordinating those efforts because "money at this point is not the problem," and it comes down to administering existing programs, Carr said. The commission's current broadband maps are also "outdated," he said, and "we can't take $100 billion without knowing where there is still a problem." Efforts to create broadband price regulation could disincentivize private investment, Carr said: "There's nothing that's going to scare those dollars away more quickly than the threat of rate regulation." There could be a lot of common ground on net neutrality if rate regulation is taken off the table, he said: "I'm still hopeful we can have an objective conversation." California's net neutrality law is "pretty remarkable," he said, and "an example of the real harms that come from those extreme approaches." Another pressing challenge is addressing the "spiraling" USF contribution factor, Carr said (see 2103230032). "I think that's an issue that is going to demand the attention of Congress in pretty short order." He also said the FCC made the "right call" in freeing up prime spectrum, and he's "very worried that there could be some backsliding with respect to those initiatives." Carr said he's still "very much open and interested" in Communications Decency Act Section 230 reform, citing Twitter's decision to block former President Donald Trump (see 2103300074). "The reasons that they articulated for kicking the president off the platform didn't really seem to line up with the actual tweets that they were referencing."
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ views on Communications Decency Act Section 230 contradict his prior positions and threaten free speech, conservative and libertarian tech observers said in interviews. The Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit last week claiming President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment in 2017 when he blocked users from his Twitter account (see 2003230060). The high court remanded the case to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals with instructions to dismiss as moot (20-197) because the former president is no longer in office.