Network Neutrality

In the past few weeks, the Biden Administration has finally moved forward with nominations to the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. As the agencies move forward, fully staffed at last, we hope they will both recognize the role they can play in promoting net neutrality – meaning, in preventing ISPs from taking advantage of their effective gatekeeping roles to favor some services over others. Most people think of net neutrality as the province of the FCC, at least at the federal level.

Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society], President Joe Biden's pick to fill the vacant seat on the five-member Federal Communications Commission, will pave the way for the restoration of Obama-era net neutrality protections if confirmed by the US Senate.

Gigi Sohn, a progressive nominated by President Joe Biden for an open seat on the Federal Communications Commission, is facing some friction in her confirmation bid. Here's what you need to know about Sohn's prospects for joining the FCC heading into Thanksgiving weekend. The Senate Commerce Committee explore Sohn's qualifications to fill the fifth and final FCC seat in a session directly following the vote.

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of children to attend school via the internet, Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel was sounding the alarm about US students who lacked access to broadband.

President Joe Biden's nominee for Federal Communications Commissioner, Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society], is a prominent liberal activist and a former Democratic staffer at the FCC who favors net neutrality, stronger government regulation of the broadband industry, and the breakup of Big Tech companies. Senate Republicans strongly oppose her confirmation, criticizing her not only as a left-wing ideologue who would favor heavy-handed regulation but also, unusually, as a threat to censor or block conservative speech.

The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing to consider the nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel, to continue as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (Rosenworcel also serves as chair of the FCC), and Alvaro Bedoya, to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. 

The White House has nominated public interest advocate Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] to become the fifth commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, and acting chair Jessica Rosenworcel to remain as the agency’s permanent chair. The way lawmakers vote in their Senate confirmation hearings will reveal whether they really want to crack down on monopoly power and Big Tech abuses—or whether that’s just an empty slogan to stoke their fundraising efforts.

Senate Republicans are planning a strong fight against President Biden's nomination of consumer advocate Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] to the Federal Communications Commission. "I will do everything in my power to convince colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reject this extreme nominee," said Sen Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Sohn has a longtime career in government policy, having co-founded consumer-advocacy group Public Knowledge in 2001.

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.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s ReConnect broadband program is making available more than $1 billion in connectivity loans and grants for internet service providers. But applicants committing to net neutrality will get a leg up, per new USDA evaluation criteria. Internet service providers (ISPs) currently aren’t legally required to abide by anything of the sort nationwide, although California and other states have legislated on net neutrality in the absence of federal rules.