By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 12-9-20 Most of the nation's state attorneys general, joined by the Federal Trade Commission, have filed a lawsuit charging that Facebook is an unlawful monopoly guilty of anticompetitive conduct. The suit alleges the social media giant "thwarted competition and reduced consumer privacy for profit" over a decade. The move [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the Delaware Supreme Court in Perlman v. Vox Media, Inc. The case arises from a defamation action that Perlman and two of his companies filed against Vox Media after publication of two online articles in 2012 and a third article [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 12-4-20 The America First-focused Trump Administration is going after Facebook for allegedly discriminating against U.S. workers in favor of immigrants. The Department of Justice has sued the company alleging it "refused to recruit, consider, or hire qualified and available U.S. workers for over 2,600 positions that Facebook, instead, reserved [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 12-4-20 Facebook has agreed to participate in the BBB National Programs National Advertising Division (NAD) guidance program. That is the self-regulatory process for reviewing and recommending changes, or not, to advertisements that have drawn complaints. Its recommendations are just that, but BBB National Programs points out that the vast [...]
FOR RELEASE: December 1, 2020 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., December 1, 2020 – Media Institute President Richard T. Kaplar issued the following statement in response to the announcement by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that he plans to depart the FCC on Jan. 20, 2021: “FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 11-25-20 Turns out Jan. 19 will be an inauguration day of sorts – inaugurating the Supreme Court's first consideration of an appeal of the FCC's media ownership rule deregulation. It will be the fourth oral argument of the January session, with one hour of argument scheduled, though that could [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 11-24-20 The FCC is seeking comment on a National Association of Broadcasters petition to clarify the application of the FCC's ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) rules to multicast streams. Those are the extra channels broadcasters got in the switch to digital. As the Media Bureau framed the issue in issuing [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Index Newspapers v. U.S. Marshals Service. The case involves an appeal by the Department of Homeland Security to overturn a district court’s injunction prohibiting the use of dispersal orders against [...]
Participated in an amicus brief in support of a petition for rehearing en banc (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia Bail Fund v. Arraignment Court Magistrate Judges. The case involves the constitutionality of certain Pennsylvania court rules that prohibit groups [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 11-19-20 In a win for Big Tech, the FCC is proposing to allow them to market and sell 5G devices before the FCC approves them. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has circulated a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to that effect for a vote at the December public meeting. Consumer [...]