Harper Neidig

Activists are planning a protest outside the Federal Communications Commission on Dec 14 as the agency is expected to vote to repeal its landmark network neutrality rules. The rally will feature speakers like Rep Keith Ellison (D-MN), Rep Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Symone Sanders, a former spokeswoman for Sen Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign. The event will be hosted by a coalition of consumer groups called the Voices for Internet Freedom.

Network neutrality supporters are predicting that the Federal Communications Commission will have a hard time defending its decision to repeal its landmark rules in court.  “The draft order seems to say that the FCC is no longer interested in exercising its responsibilities as an expert agency,” said Jonathan Sallet, a former FCC general counsel under the Obama administration. “I do not believe a court of appeals will uphold this order,” he added.

Top House Democrats are calling for the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission to be investigated over whether he has been improperly clearing regulatory hurdles for the Sinclair Broadcast Group’s pending acquisition of Tribune Media. Reps Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Frank Pallone Jr (D-NJ), the top Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Commerce Committee respectively, sent a letter to the FCC inspector general, asking that he probe whether Chairman Ajit Pai has been clearing the way for the $3.9 billion deal.

The Department of Justice and AT&T traded accusations Nov 8 over whether the company would have to sell off CNN, the cable network frequently feuding with President Trump, as a condition of its merger with Time Warner.  AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson flatly denied that his company had ever entertained the idea of selling CNN to win approval of the deal. “Until now, we’ve never commented on our discussions with the DOJ. But given DOJ’s statement this afternoon, it’s important to set the record straight,” said Stephenson.

The Internet Association, a trade group representing internet platforms like Facebook and Google, outlined principles for what the industry would like to see in online ad disclosure legislation. The wish list includes oversight from the Federal Election Commission and a set of uniform rules applied to all websites equally.

Democratic lawmakers rallied net neutrality supporters ahead of the Federal Communications Commission’s initial vote to start rolling back the Obama-era regulations. A string of Democrats took to the Senate floor to argue in favor of the rules, which require internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally. And many lawmakers took to social media to encourage people to show their support for the regulations. On May 18, the FCC will vote on whether to solicit public input on the proposal to undo the rules, the first step in the process of rolling them back. Democrats argue that getting rid of net neutrality will give internet service providers the ability to favor or discriminate against certain web content.

The proposed acquisition by Sinclair Broadcasting Group of Tribune Media Company is inflaming criticism of the Federal Communications Commission, which helped pave the way for the deal by relaxing media ownership restrictions.

Sinclair announced that it had reached an agreement to buy Tribune for $3.9 billion. The announcement came several weeks after the FCC voted to ease restrictions on the amount of local television stations that broadcasters can own. Broadcasters are now limited to serving 39 percent of the country’s households. Last month, the FCC reinstated what’s known as the UHF discount, which makes stations that used to broadcast on ultra-high frequency count less toward the 39 percent ownership limit. Without the discount, Sinclair already reaches 38 percent of US households, according to an analysis from Fitch Ratings. Once the discount goes into effect, the Fitch study finds, Sinclair’s share will drop to 25 percent — giving the company more room to buy local television stations. The deal with Tribune is still likely to push Sinclair over the media limit, and the company has said that it will explore ways to avoid exceeding the cap. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has said that he agrees that the UHF discount has outlived its usefulness but argues that it shouldn’t be modified or removed without also reviewing the overall ownership limit, which he has promised the FCC will do.

HBO comedian John Oliver acknowledged in a Youtube video that there were racist comments filed in support of net neutrality and had a simple message for any of his viewers who may have written them: “Stop it. Do not f---ing do that.” “Writing racist things on the internet is not how you win the net neutrality debate,” Oliver said. “It’s how you win the presidency.” The late-night host urged his audience to “comment in a clear, civil fashion” in support of net neutrality. The Internet Association, a Silicon Valley trade group that supports the net neutrality rules, also condemned racist comments against Chairman Pai. “Hateful or threatening speech in any form is counter to our mission and values,” said Michael Beckerman, the group’s CEO. “The merits of net neutrality can be articulated with both passion and respect. We stand with the millions of people who advocate for a free and open internet but also strongly denounce the use of hateful or threatening language to achieve this goal."

Sens Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) are asking the Federal Communications Commission for information about the agency’s claim that it had been the target of cyberattacks after being criticized by late night comedian John Oliver on May 7. The two Sens sent a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai with a list of questions about the FCC’s claim that its comment filing system had been hit with a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.

“DDoS attacks against federal agencies are serious — and doubly so if the attack may have prevented Americans from being able to weigh in on your proposal to roll back net neutrality protections,” they wrote. “Any potentially hostile cyber activities that prevent Americans from being able to participate in a fair and transparent process must be treated as a serious issue.”

Facebook has tapped a former New York Times executive to lead the company’s news products team. In the newly created position, Alex Hardiman, who has been leading the social media site’s pages team since leaving the Times in 2016, will be in charge of building tools for news outlets. “As a part of the Facebook Journalism Project, my colleagues and I will work collaboratively with news organizations across the spectrum to build new storytelling formats, local news communities, monetization options, and more,” she said. “We will spend time building better products and tools for journalists, working hand-in-hand with Campbell Brown and her team to strengthen the relationships and value exchange between Facebook and news providers. We will also partner with teams in Facebook to continue curbing the spread of false news.”