Policymakers

Andrew Ferguson started his legal career with such a conventional antitrust practice—defending companies facing investigations and allegations of anticompetitive conduct—that his parents joked he was a “pro-trust lawyer.” A decade later, Ferguson’s rapid ascendance through Republican circles has put him in charge of the Federal Trade Commission, where he will try to chart a new course for antitrust enforcement: mixing MAGA populism with strains of the GOP’s traditional lighter-touch approach to regulation. While Ferguson has been outspoken in criticizing his 

CTIA, the wireless industry association, announced that Ajit Pai has been named President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1. Pai will join CTIA from Searchlight Capital Partners. He will replace Meredith Attwell Baker, who announced her retirement in December and has served in the role since 2014. Prior to joining Searchlight Capital Partners in 2021, Pai served in senior leadership roles in the Federal Communications Commission for almost a decade.

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Board Chairman and Trustee Austin Hirsch announced that longtime Executive Director Adrianne B. Furniss will transition to Benton Senior Fellow and will be succeeded by the Institute’s current Vice President of Programs, Dr. Revati Prasad. Furniss will continue to manage the Institute’s programming in Illinois and advise Dr. Prasad for the rest of 2025. Dr. Prasad will assume leadership of the Benton Institute beginning May 1, 2025.

A bevy of House Republicans lined up at a recent subcommittee hearing to bemoan the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, minutes after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced he would conduct a “rigorous review” of the effort to close the digital divide. While that hearing turned into another Washington food fight, among state officials, BEAD still appears to have plenty of bipartisan support.

This paper examines the parallels between historical telecommunications regulation and current proposals for increasing competition in technology markets, focusing on three key market characteristics the sectors share: network effects, economies of scale, and switching costs. Regulators have addressed these issues in telecommunications markets through mandatory interconnection among telephone networks, compulsory asset sharing, and number portability requirements.

On March 4, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar wrote to Reps Craig Goldman (R-TX) and August Pfluger (R-TX) expressing his desire to quickly put Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funds to work and return unallocated funds to the US Treasury. "As a passionate advocate for conservative financial management, I am committed to responsibly using taxpayer dollars and returning any unallocated funds back to the U.S. Treasury.

Across U.S. politics, it’s become fashionable to blame nearly all the internet’s ills on one law I co-wrote: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Everyone from President Donald Trump to some of my Democratic colleagues argue that Section 230 has let major tech platforms moderate too much or too little. Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, has already written about his plans to reinterpret the law himself. Many of these claims give Section 230 too much credit.

The Arizona Commerce Authority announced that Nick Capozzi will serve as Arizona’s new State Broadband Director. Capozzi replaces Sandip Bhowmick, who has served in the position since February 2022 and is departing for a role in the private sector. Nick comes to the ACA from the Governor’s Office, where he has served as Operations Advisor and State Infrastructure Coordinator. While at the Governor’s Office, Nick has been closely involved in statewide broadband planning and expansion efforts.

Five US Senators wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, raising concerns about reports that Elon Musk’s social media company “X” (formerly Twitter) is leveraging his influential position in the Trump Administration to extract revenue from advertisers. If Musk uses his government position to protect those who engage in business with him—or harm those who do not—then he risks running afoul of criminal ethics laws. The Department of Justice (DOJ) would be responsible for investigating a potential criminal violation of federal ethics laws.

President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet in person to deliver a message: You’re in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk. According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy.