TikTok’s popularity with young Americans isn’t a good reason to not take strong action against the popular Chinese-owned social media app, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday. A day earlier the White House announced support for bipartisan legislation to authorize the Commerce Department to effectively ban TikTok in the U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and more than 10 senators backed the bill.
Communications sector officials voiced elevated concerns Wednesday about the prospects that the FCC’s spectrum auction authority might expire Thursday night, before a planned floor showdown between Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and other Senate officials over dueling proposals to extend the mandate (see 2303080045).
Minnesota lawmakers weighed bills Tuesday to release more cash for broadband and create a tax exemption for fiber broadband. In Florida, electric cooperatives raised concerns a bill to apply pole attachment rules to co-ops would make it harder for them to bring broadband to hard-to-serve areas.
5G is moving closer to maturity, based on what they saw and heard at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week, industry executives said during a TelecomTV webinar Tuesday. Questions remain about how to monetize 5G and about the future of open radio access networks, speakers said.
FCC commissioners emphasized the need for action on spectrum policy and 5G, and more certainty on broadband affordability and deployment efforts, during Incompas’ policy summit Tuesday. Some industry experts also urged changes to sustain the USF because funding for the affordable connectivity program remains uncertain and the USF contribution factor continues to rise.
The Standard/Tegna broadcasters’ motion seeking a full FCC vote on the Media Bureau’s hearing designation order (HDO) (see 2303060051) is considered a long shot due to the deal’s tight clock and the agency's current makeup but could have a slim chance, attorneys told us. The matter could also threaten the FCC’s merger review powers and use of administrative law judges, attorneys and academics said. Challenges to the constitutionality of ALJs “are happening at every agency right now,” said American University administrative law professor Jeffrey Lubbers: “If you’re facing a hearing, why wouldn’t you?”
Uncertainty about the prospects for congressional leaders to break a Senate impasse on the length of a new short-term extension of the FCC’s spectrum auction authority led lawmakers and industry officials to renew warnings, during a Tuesday Incompas event and in interviews, about the potential consequences if Capitol Hill allows the commission’s current mandate to expire as scheduled Thursday. Senators have been grappling with whether to accept a House-passed bill that would renew the FCC’s remit through May 19 (HR-1108) to give lawmakers more time to negotiate a broader spectrum legislative package (see 2302240066). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., implied Monday there wasn’t a deal then (see 2303060071).
The White House withdrew Gigi Sohn’s FCC nomination from Senate consideration Tuesday at her request, ending what had become an often fractious year-plus confirmation process that involved President Joe Biden naming her three times (see 2301030026). Sohn’s announcement followed shortly after Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced he'd be the first Senate Democrat to formally oppose her confirmation, but the former nominee and her supporters confirmed she reached her decision Monday. Sohn’s supporters grieved her withdrawal and strongly criticized her opponents inside and outside the communications sector for engaging in an unprecedented campaign of character assassination.
Platforms shouldn’t be liable for real-world harm just because their algorithms amplify and rank content, said consumer advocates, academics and industry representatives Monday at the State of the Net Conference.
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington questioned the need for the FCC to revisit net neutrality rules, during a keynote interview at the State of the Net conference Monday. Simington asked whether the U.S. doesn't “have de facto net neutrality at this moment.” It’s unclear what to do on net neutrality when it already exists, he said.