Federal Communications Commission member Brendan Carr said that TikTok is “China’s digital fentanyl” and that the social media platform is “a very sophisticated surveillance app.”
“At the end of the day, TikTok is China’s digital fentanyl,” Carr, a Republican and one of five FCC commissioners, said Friday on Fox News.
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) this week announced she is cosponsoring a measure alongside Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) to identify broadcasting content that foreign governments are underwriting.
Called the Identifying Propaganda on Our Airwaves (IPA) Act, the bill directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to mandate that radio and television broadcast companies check foreign-media databases to ascertain non-American sources of programming and advertising.
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The Arizona-based CEO of a precious metals brokerage firm has been told by a local radio station that he cannot air ads stating that he believes Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is running for governor, is a racist.
Jim Clark, CEO of Phoenix-based Republic Monetary Exchange, told The Arizona Sun Times he felt so strongly about supporting Kari Lake for governor that he created his own ads, paying almost double the rate of ads for his own company to run them on KTAR. The middle-of-the-road radio station was running a barrage of pro-Hobbs ads but he hadn’t heard any in favor of Lake, so he wanted to create some balance.
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Gigi Sohn has been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but not a single Republican in the Senate has said they will vote to approve her confirmation. If every Senate Democrat votes to confirm her, plus Vice President Kamala Harris as a tie-breaking vote, Sohn will be confirmed, but insiders say two pivotal Democratic senators have indicated they will vote no, Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly.
In an op-ed for The Register-Herald, former West Virginia legislator Mike Oliverio said Sohn has “radical left-wing viewpoints.” He cited her “record calling Fox News state-sponsored propaganda and questioning whether Sinclair Broadcasting should have their broadcast licenses revoked.”
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Senate Commerce Republicans are whipping opposition to the nomination of Gigi Sohn, one of President Joe Biden’s picks for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Biden nominated Sohn, former FCC counsel under Tom Wheeler and Ford Foundation alum, to an empty spot on the commission in late October, along with current acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel to the permanent position.
While Republicans have been quiet in their response to the nomination of Rosenworcel, many are pointing to Sohn’s public statements on conservatives as reasons to oppose her confirmation.
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FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr believes the agency should require Big Tech to fund internet infrastructure, following the introduction last week of a bill mandating the FCC consider collecting contributions from the tech companies.
The Funding Affordable Internet with Reliable (FAIR) Contributions Act, introduced July 21 by Republican Sens. Roger Wicker, Todd Young, and Shelley Moore Capito, instructs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to look into charging major tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Netflix to fund broadband networks. Currently, new internet infrastructure is paid for by the Universal Service Fund (USF), a $9 billion pot of money funded by charges on consumers’ phone service.
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President Joe Biden is taking aim at Big Tech and Big Telecom’s growing power with a new executive order that will add regulations and facilitate competition within the industries.
The order, which Biden is expected to sign Friday, includes over 70 provisions, all aimed at promoting competition within tech and telecom, both of which have become more monopolistic in recent years.
It encourages the Federal Trade Commission to overhaul its rules regarding personal data collection and bans unfair competition practices online, according to a White House fact sheet. It also calls for more scrutiny when examining potential corporate mergers, especially when a larger corporation acquires a smaller one or when it could affect customers’ privacy or competition within the sector.
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The senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission criticized the Democratic Baltimore City State Attorney’s recent request for an investigation into a local Fox affiliate as an attack on free speech.
Brendan Carr, the top Republican on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), condemned Baltimore City State Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s request, saying it was part of a broader effort by Democrats to censor news coverage and political speech they don’t like. Carr demanded that the commission dismiss Mosby’s complaint by the end of the day “with prejudice.”
“The State’s Attorney’s Office, led by Democrat Marilyn Mosby, has launched a chilling and direct attack on free speech and journalistic freedom,” Carr said in a statement on Monday. “The complaint her office filed with the FCC asks the Commission to censor a newsroom simply because journalists are doing their constitutionally protected jobs and shining a light on the work of the State’s Attorney.”
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On the campaign trail, the Biden campaign voiced its support for network neutrality—“net neutrality” for short. The topic has resurfaced in recent weeks and months thanks to a few key events. These include the appointment of a new acting FCC chairwoman, the DOJ dropping a lawsuit against the state of California, and Biden’s choice of Tim Wu, the so-called “father of net neutrality,” for a National Economic Council role.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is applauding a federal initiative to grow the availability of telehealth for rural areas.
The Federal Communications Commission, U.S. Department Of Health And Human Services and the U.S. Department Of Agriculture last week announced they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Rural Telehealth Initiative.
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The Pentagon plans to free up a big chunk of its military airwaves in the U.S. for high-speed internet service, part of a broader push to get ahead of China in the deployment of 5G wireless technology.
The Trump administration announced Monday that it has identified radio spectrum used for radar defense systems that can be shared with commercial telecommunications providers without compromising national security.
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Federal Communications Commissioner Ajit Pai announced Wednesday a plan to dramatically increase the United States’ wireless internet speeds to help pave the road to the kind of technology Americans can rely on to better cope with another coronavirus outbreak.
Pai proposed a plan to make 1,200 MHz of spectrum available for unlicensed use across the country as Americans become reliant on remote connectivity to slow the spread of COVID-19, which originated in China before traveling to the United States. Such a move could allow the so-called Internet of Things to pick up speed, connecting all devices to wireless internet.
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As the threat of COVID-19 infection by coronavirus transmission grows, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been taking steps to ensure better internet access for Americans as many self-quarantine during the crisis.
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A U.S. appeals court dealt a big blow Thursday to opponents of the Federal Communication Commission’s decision to repeal an Obama-era regulation that conservatives believe restrained the open internet.
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Former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers is heading up a group that is working to poke and prod the Federal Communications Commission into moving quicker on approving fifth generation development.
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Major U.S. internet companies can no longer use subsidies to buy equipment from Chinese mega supplier Huawei, federal regulators ruled Friday.
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More support is being thrown behind a plan to have the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction off mid-band spectrum for 5G use rather than allow satellite operators to conduct a private sale of an asset they received for free.
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by Chris White A commissioner with the Federal Communications Commission wants to know why two liberal nonprofit groups are using revenue from a federal program designed to give poor children internet access on various progressive pet projects. Organizations involved in a FCC-program dolling out broadband internet for kids might…
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by Robert Romano The Wall Street Journal is reporting that momentum is building for the U.S. government to subject Google and other Big Tech firms to antitrust scrutiny for fears that they have become too big and too powerful. In today’s digital ecosystem, politicians, political parties, organizations and media…
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President Donald Trump is considering an executive order in the new year to declare a national emergency that would bar U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment made by China’s Huawei and ZTE, three sources familiar with the situation told Reuters. It would be the latest step by the Trump administration…
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by Nick Givas Tribune Media Company killed its merger with Sinclair Broadcast Group on Thursday and filed a lawsuit against the media conglomerate, claiming breach of contract. Tribune is seeking financial compensation for losses it claims it suffered as a result of Sinclair’s breach of the merger agreement. Tribune is…
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by Jeffrey Tucker At long last, with the end of “net neutrality,” competition could soon come to the industry that delivers Internet services to you. You might be able to pick among a range of packages, some minimalist and some maximalist, depending on how you use the service. Or…
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Net neutrality activists left signs at Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai’s house Saturday, telling his children that their father was an “evil” man who “murdered” democracy. The cardboard signs list Pai’s children by name, telling them that “you don’t have to be evil.” Pai’s leadership of the FCC…
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Regulators are reviewing a lewd joke made by “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert this week involving President Trump and his Russian counterpart, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission confirmed Thursday. The FCC has received several complaints concerning Mr. Colbert’s recent quip and will considered whether it violated any…
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