Court case

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California’s net neutrality law, rejecting an attempt by telecommunications industry groups to prevent the state from enforcing it. The court upheld a previous ruling, which means the status quo stays and the state can continue to enforce the law. This means California can continue its ban on internet providers slowing down or blocking access to websites and applications that don’t pay for premium service. California's net neutrality law was signed by former Gov Jerry Brown (D-CA) in 2018.

During his time on the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen Breyer authored and signed onto a slew of significant antitrust and regulation opinions that loom large over the cases against Facebook and Google today. His departure from the bench will mean the loss of serious antitrust expertise — a development that will sadden some traditionalists and cheer progressive antitrust activists that say change is long overdue. Breyer’s views on corporate power shifted somewhat over the years, but antitrust experts point to his decision to sign onto Justice Antonin Scalia’s 2004 opinion in Verizon v.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai personally approved a secret deal that gave the social network a leg up in the search giant’s online advertising auctions, attorneys for Texas and other states alleged in newly unsealed court filings.

The Federal Communications Commission says that the Supreme Court need not disturb an appellate decision ruling against the City of Eugene (OR) over its imposition of a seven percent fee on cable operators providing broadband Internet service that use municipal rights-of-way. The dispute partly stems from an FCC order governing franchising authority's ability to regulate cable operators’ provision of non-cable services.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel responded to House Republicans' letter regarding state and federal net neutrality laws. The GOP letter—dated April 16, 2021 and led by Reps Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Bob Latta (R-OH) as well as 24 others—addressed the Justice Department's withdrawal of its 2018 lawsuit against California for passing its own net neutrality regulations and Rosenworcel's support of the decision.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in favor of the Federal Communications Commission in its decision to designate a large swath of the 6 GHz band to unlicensed users, including Wi-Fi. AT&T had challenged the FCC’s decision, saying it posed potential interference with existing fixed microwave users. “Petitioners have failed to provide a basis for questioning the Commission’s conclusion that the Order will protect against a significant risk of harmful interference,” the court wrote in its December 28 decision.

A lawsuit filed by a major provider of broadband services alleges that a recent decision by the Iowa Utilities Board has prevented it from participating in the rollout of a $23 million expansion of broadband service for rural Iowans. LTD Broadband, a Las Vegas-based company with roughly 150 employees, owns and operates more than 2,500 communications towers in Iowa and six other states, and is suing the Iowa Utilities Board over the alleged delays.

Public Knowledge, joined by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, filed an amici curiae brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which is reviewing a New York law to make broadband internet more affordable.

Federal Judge Robert Pitman blocked a Texas law (HB 20) that would allow any state resident banned from a social media platform for their