The Hill

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.

Democrats are ramping up their attacks on major corporate mergers after a series of mega-deals from corporate giants.  But Democrats aren’t just taking aim at the behemoth deals themselves: they’re looking at the specific government policies that permit them. Sen Elizabeth Warren
 (D-MA) on directly attacked the Chicago school of economics — the principles that have significantly influenced how federal regulators evaluate mergers.

President Donald Trump lashed out at The New York Times on Dec 11 over a report that said he watches a minimum of four hours of television each day. 

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are questioning the privacy and security of Facebook’s new messaging app, which is designed for kids under 13, expressing their concerns in a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.  “We remain concerned about where sensitive information collected through this app could end up and for what purpose it could be used,” they wrote.

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.