Press Release

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA.) led eight of his Democratic colleagues in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to maintain essential elements of the “Kid Vid” rules, which ensure access to children’s education programming on over-the-air broadcast television, in accordance with the Children’s Television Act. The letter, a response to the Commission’s recently-released draft order, urges FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to preserve existing rules requiring broadcasters to air three hours of regularly scheduled educational children’s programming a week on their primary stations.

Sen Ron Johnson (R-WI) sent a letter to Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, requesting information on how algorithms and artificial intelligence suggest content and users to engage with on their platforms. “After conducting a number of algorithm-related studies, Pew Research Center concluded, ‘Americans express broad concerns over the fairness and effectiveness of computer programs making important decisions in people’s lives.’ As we become aware of the society-wide significance of this influence, the lack of transparency regarding human bias and the use of algo

Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, requesting more information about reports that the FCC's Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) may be inappropriately dominated by industry insiders.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted an Order setting compensation rates for telecommunications relay services that are supported by the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Services Fund for the Fund Year 2019-2020. In a statement, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said:

Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Doug Jones (D-AL) introduced the American Broadband Buildout Act of 2019 (ABBA), a bipartisan bill to ensure that rural Americans have access to broadband services at speeds they need to fully participate in the modern society and economy by directing the Federal Communications Commission to provide up to $5 billion in matching grants to help states improve broadband infrastructure. The American Broadband Buildout Act of 2019 would:

President Donald Trump appointed Chad Rupe as Administrator of the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service. Rupe has served as Acting Administrator for the Rural Utilities Service since April 30. Prior to stepping into that role, he served as USDA Rural Development State Director of Wyoming from 2017 to 2019. During his tenure there, Rupe was a leader for rural broadband, serving on the Rural Development State Directors Broadband Working Group and assisting state government with efforts to deploy broadband in rural WY. R

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to Facebook urging the company to institute policy changes in light of evidence that third party game developers manipulated children into spending their parents’ money. Previous reporting by the Center for Investigative Reporting demonstrated that Facebook personnel had direct knowledge that children were spending large sums of their parents’ money on in-app purchases without parental knowledge or permission. New evidence now reveals that Facebook has still not instituted key policy changes to address this issue.

Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA), vice chair of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, released the “WIN 5G Act”. This draft legislation proposes a consensus-based, compromise approach to rapidly and equitably reallocating spectrum between the frequencies of 3.7 GHz-4.2 GHz, commonly referred to as the “C-band”.

The House Small Business Committee's Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure held a hearing focused on improving broadband mapping in rural areas across the country. The hearing featured testimony from rural broadband carriers on the challenges that they face and ways broadband mapping can be improved going forward. 

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS), Committee, Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet Subcommittee Ranking Member Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Rep Brett Guthrie (R-KY) introduced the “Supplementing the Pipeline for Efficient Control of The Resources for Users Making New Opportunities for Wireless (SPECTRUM NOW) Act”.