Editorial Board

As students return for a new school year, artificial intelligence is beginning to seep into the classroom. The disruption of teaching by technology is, though, not universally welcomed. As in other fields, AI is in reality unlikely to replace teachers any time soon, and nor should it. Research suggests the best learning is social, involving interaction between teachers and students, and between students themselves.

The Biden regulatory blitz continues, but courts are beginning to do their job to stop the biggest legal overreaches. A Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel blocked the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rule, citing the Supreme Court’s major questions doctrine. Welcome to the post-Chevron world. “An agency may issue regulations only to the extent that Congress permits it,” the court writes.

How much power may Congress hand off to the Washington bureaucracy? That’s a live question, so grab the popcorn to read a decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In a 9-7 en banc ruling, it invalidated a “universal service” surcharge added to cellphone bills.

More than 23 million households will lose affordable internet access as part of a pandemic-era federal program that provided low-income households with a credit of between $30 and $75 toward their monthly service bill.

Some 23 million households receive broadband subsidies through the Affordable Connectivity Program, which is more than the number on food stamps. Households qualify if they earn 200% or less than the poverty line or participate in other welfare programs such as Medicaid. This includes relatively affluent households with public-school students in localities like New York City that provide universal free school meals. Broadband providers have said in recent earnings calls that they don’t expect to lose many subscribers once the program ends.

The United States has lately gotten serious about broadband expansion, with the federal government spending tens of billions of dollars to deploy services all over the country — especially in rural areas, where coverage is sparse. But how widely connectivity is available matters little if consumers can’t afford it.

The Federal Communication Commission’s new Democratic majority is up and running and firing in all directions. The FCC plans to vote on a proposed “digital discrimination” rule. In the name of equity, Democratic Commissioners will make internet service worse. The agency will hold broadband providers liable for actions or “omissions” that result in a disparate impact on an identity group.

Net neutrality has become the Washington equivalent of a Hollywood franchise: As if the sequel to the sequel weren’t enough, another installment of the debate over rules for the internet’s roads arrived this month. This time, however, there’s a plot twist. What, exactly, net neutrality rules look like matters less than that there are meaningful rules for broadband more generally.

Does a progressive activist who wants to weaken copyright and speech protections belong on the Federal Communications Commission? President Biden thinks so, and bizarrely so do the leaders of conservative Newsmax Media and One America News Network (OAN). Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said Newsmax is “being sidelined in favor of a small number of mega-corporations who dominate the channel line-ups.” OAN President Charles Herring hailed Sohn’s commitment to “diversity in media.” The two execs may be hoping Sohn will target Sinclair and Fox News.

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.