Information that is published or distributed in a digital form, including text, data, sound recordings, photographs and images, motion pictures, and software.
Digital Content
Elon Musk Faces FTC Antitrust Review on Twitter Alongside Stock Probe
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reviewing Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter takeover, a person familiar with the deal said, setting up a deadline in the next month for the agency to decide whether to conduct an in-depth review of the transaction. Under US merger law, Musk is required to notify the FTC and the Justice Department of the transaction and wait at least 30 days before closing to allow an investigation into potential antitrust concerns.
Facebook Deliberately Caused Havoc in Australia to Influence New Law
Last year when Facebook blocked news in Australia in response to potential legislation making platforms pay publishers for content, it also took down the pages of Australian hospitals, emergency services and charities. It publicly called the resulting chaos “inadvertent.” Internally, the pre-emptive strike was hailed as a strategic masterstroke.
Home Broadband and the Cloud
I’m not sure that most people understand the extent to which our online experience has moved to the cloud – and this movement to the cloud means we’re using a lot more bandwidth than in the recent past. A huge number of online functions now reside in the cloud, when only a few years ago a lot of processing was done on our computers. The shift to the cloud is still an ongoing transition and there are still plenty of software packages that are not processed in the cloud, but it’s obvious that everything will eventually be in the cloud.
Journalism is under "digital siege"
The global climate for journalists has become more perilous as autocrats weaponize the media to consolidate power. Those efforts are increasingly being carried out through surveillance and digital attacks.
![](https://www.benton.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/fcc-official-logo-tn_543.jpg?itok=zeq3fZob)
FCC Commissioner Simington Comments On Acquisition Of Twitter
Federal Communications Commissioner Nathan Simington released a statement regarding Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter. "Some have recently called on the FCC to stop Elon Musk from acquiring Twitter," he said. "But nothing in the United States Code or our regulations gives us the right to interfere with this transaction. Our competition review authority does not and has never extended to internet platforms like Twitter. But even if this deal were within our purview, it would be inappropriate and contrary to the public interest to block it. Mr.
![](https://www.benton.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/itif_30.png?itok=dQvcgd7I)
The Declaration for the Future of the Internet Is an Invitation for the EU to Dictate Global Policy
The Biden Administration’s newly launched Declaration for the Future of the Internet is too ambitious. There is no need to focus on what are mostly domestic Internet policy issues, where nations are likely to have differing approaches. This includes data privacy—an issue that is best dealt with the national government level, lest the stronger regulator (the European Union) succeed in imposing its innovation-limiting privacy regime on the rest of the free world.
FBI Conducted Potentially Millions of Searches of Americans’ Data Last Year
The Federal Bureau of Investigation performed potentially millions of searches of American electronic data in 2021 without a warrant, US intelligence officials said April 29, a revelation likely to stoke longstanding concerns in Congress about government surveillance and privacy.
Musk’s Twitter play has some telecom implications
The biggest story in tech this week is without a doubt Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion and to take the company private. And while that deal doesn’t touch directly on wireless or wired telecom networks, there are some connections related to the Federal Communications Commission, spectrum and telecom policy. First, no one is suggesting that the deal won’t happen. New Street Research policy analyst Blair Levin said there aren’t any big antitrust issues. It would be different if a social media competitor, such as Meta, were trying to buy Twitter.
Broadband for Communities
When talking about the benefits of broadband, it’s easy to overlook how broadband has become the glue that brings people and communities together. This is becoming particularly important for rural communities but matters to people everywhere. Rural communities have been rapidly losing other forms of media that were the focal point in the past. 2004 was the peak of the newspaper business in terms of readership and revenues. Since then, the number of journalists has been cut in half.