Communications Decency Act Section 230 needs to be updated, and one gap is the lack of transparency about content moderation decisions and algorithms, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday. Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told us he wants to treat the addictive nature of social media apps, particularly with young people, as a public health issue. He likened Big Tech to Big Tobacco.
Section 230
Social media companies need guidance on moderating content, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told us in response to questions about Tuesday’s hearing with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Graham’s Earn It Act (S-3398), co-led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., would establish a commission led by the attorney general to develop voluntary best practices for social media companies (see 2008050039).
Some FTC staffers are expecting Joe Simons to step down as chairman on Inauguration Day, an agency aide told us. An industry official said Simons is “looking to step down before the end of the year.” He recently told senior staff it could be as early as Thanksgiving, but he wants to vote out the agency’s antitrust case against Facebook before he leaves office, the industry official said.
Incompas CEO Chip Pickering is hopeful this Congress enacts FY 2021 funding and a COVID-19 aid bill, despite partisan rancor. Group officials told a Thursday webinar they’re monitoring whether the Senate confirms FCC nominee Nathan Simington, plus the impact of a change to a majority-Democrat commission after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
USF contribution reform could still be a long way off, said FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and former Chair Mignon Clyburn at NARUC’s virtual annual conference Tuesday. O’Rielly, co-chair of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, slammed that body as dysfunctional. Earlier in the day, state officials cited the COVID-19 pandemic as they urged national broadband action.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., threatened Tuesday to place a hold on FCC nominee Nathan Simington amid dissatisfaction with his refusal to commit during a Commerce Committee hearing to recuse himself from participating in the rulemaking on its interpretation of Communications Decency Act Section 230 and his answers on other matters. Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi and other Republicans were supportive of Simington. The nominee's confirmation prospects were expected before the presidential election to be jeopardized if Democrat Joe Biden won (see 2011020001).
The FCC effort to interpret Communications Decency Act Section 230 isn’t comparable to the heavy-handed regulations repealed during the net neutrality debate in the late 2000s, Commissioner Brendan Carr said Tuesday during a Federalist Society event. Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld questioned how Carr could be against Communications Act Title II regulation of internet service providers but also support Section 230 regulatory changes envisioned by the Trump administration (see 2011060053).
Joe Biden's presidential transition team for the FCC is starting to take shape, but it's early on given most national news organizations declared his win Saturday. President Donald Trump hasn’t conceded. A few names are emerging for the landing team, and a final list isn't likely until after Thanksgiving, stakeholders said in interviews. Team leaders from former President Barack Obama's interregnum 12 years ago said cooperation from the outgoing administration is critical.
The FCC’s Communications Decency Act Section 230 rulemaking proceeding (see 2010210062) opens the door for a potential Biden administration to pursue its own interpretation of the technology industry’s liability shield, tech observers and legal experts told us. Rather than drop the proceeding, initiated by President Donald Trump’s social media executive order, a Democratic FCC could take an activist approach with it, they said.
Election Day hasn't yet claimed any key members of Congress' panels overseeing tech and telecom. Republicans appeared to be defying prognosticators’ expectations. Vote counts showed them retaining several vulnerable Senate seats and regaining some House seats Democrats took in 2018. Control of the White House and Congress remained unresolved Wednesday morning with millions of votes in Tuesday’s election still being counted.