Network Neutrality

President Joe Biden's nominee for Federal Communications Commissioner, Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society], is a prominent liberal activist and a former Democratic staffer at the FCC who favors net neutrality, stronger government regulation of the broadband industry, and the breakup of Big Tech companies. Senate Republicans strongly oppose her confirmation, criticizing her not only as a left-wing ideologue who would favor heavy-handed regulation but also, unusually, as a threat to censor or block conservative speech.

The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing to consider the nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel, to continue as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (Rosenworcel also serves as chair of the FCC), and Alvaro Bedoya, to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. 

The White House has nominated public interest advocate Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] to become the fifth commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, and acting chair Jessica Rosenworcel to remain as the agency’s permanent chair. The way lawmakers vote in their Senate confirmation hearings will reveal whether they really want to crack down on monopoly power and Big Tech abuses—or whether that’s just an empty slogan to stoke their fundraising efforts.

Senate Republicans are planning a strong fight against President Biden's nomination of consumer advocate Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] to the Federal Communications Commission. "I will do everything in my power to convince colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reject this extreme nominee," said Sen Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Sohn has a longtime career in government policy, having co-founded consumer-advocacy group Public Knowledge in 2001.

President Biden’s effort to supercharge the regulatory state is steadily advancing. The latest example is his nomination of progressive partisan Gigi Sohn to the Federal Communications Commission. She favors deploying the agency’s regulatory power to shackle broadband providers and silence conservative voices. Sohn founded Public Knowledge that has long sought more government control of the internet and media.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s ReConnect broadband program is making available more than $1 billion in connectivity loans and grants for internet service providers. But applicants committing to net neutrality will get a leg up, per new USDA evaluation criteria. Internet service providers (ISPs) currently aren’t legally required to abide by anything of the sort nationwide, although California and other states have legislated on net neutrality in the absence of federal rules.

Get ready for speculation over who will take over as top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, whose jurisdiction covers everything from broadband and net neutrality to media ownership and online liability protections, a coveted spot among lawmakers. Rep Mike Doyle (D-PA) replaced Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) as the subcommittee’s top Democrat in 2017 and became chair in 2019. Doyle has prioritized efforts to restore Obama-era net neutrality regulations that were repealed during the Trump years.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Representatives introduced new legislation to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields websites and online platforms from being held liable for third-party content. Senior Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA), and Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) announced the bill.

President Biden has yet to nominate anyone to fill a vacant seat at the Federal Communications Commission. What's more, the term of current Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is set to expire when Congress adjourns at the end of 2021. It adds up to a possible Republican majority on the FCC under a Democratic administration, which could stymie the party's efforts on a number of policies including net neutrality standards. Currently, the FCCis deadlocked with two Democratic commissioners, Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, and two Republicans, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington.

California's net neutrality law could pave the way for conflicting broadband regulations in all 50 states, a lawyer for the cable industry argued to a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. “The question before this court is whether interstate broadband service will continue to be governed by a single, national set of rules, or instead will for the first time face a patchwork of conflicting state regulation,” attorney Scott Angstreich, who represents broadband lobbying groups, told the appellate judges.