By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-8-21 Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) have reintroduced the National Broadband Plan for the Future Act, to the applause of some cable operators. The bill, which coincided with the 25th anniversary of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, would require the FCC to update its National [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-8-21 The Biden Justice Department has dropped the Trump Justice Department's challenge to California's net neutrality law. The court issued a one line statement: "Plaintiff the United States of America, by and through its counsel, hereby gives notice of its voluntary dismissal of this case." Congressional Democrats had pressed [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-5-21 INCOMPAS, whose members include competitive carriers and computer companies, has petitioned the FCC to restore its net neutrality rules. In a petition for reconsideration, the association told the FCC that it needs to reclassify Internet access services (ISPs) as Title II telecommunications service – subject to common carrier [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-5-21 Senate Democrats are taking aim at social media sites' Section 230 content immunity in a new bill. The Safeguarding Against Fraud, Exploitation, Threats, Extremism and Consumer Harms (SAFE TECH) Act would carve out several categories of content from Web sites' current Section 230 immunity from civil liability for [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-5-21 Republican leadership in the House Energy & Commerce Committee are branding Big Tech a "destructive force" and calling on Democratic committee leadership to hold a hearing immediately with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Republicans have created a Big Tech Accountability [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-4-21 Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is introducing a new, Big Tech-targeted, antitrust bill that would block anticompetitive mergers, toughen antitrust enforcement, and seek civil fines and forfeitures. Talking about the bill on CNBC Thursday (Feb. 4), Klobuchar, incoming head of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, said the GameStop/Reddit stock manipulation [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-2-21 House Energy & Commerce Committee Democratic leaders have fired off new letters to the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook, and Google as part of an investigation into Big Tech's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The letters are in response to news reports of COVID-19 misinformation/disinformation on their platforms and [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-2-21 The FCC has told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that China Telecom Americas' appeal of the FCC's launch of a revocation proceeding against the company is premature. That is because the launch of a proceeding is not an appealable final decision, it told the [...]

By Mike Farrell, Multichannel News, 2-2-21 Comcast is doubling down on its efforts to bring affordable broadband service to underserved communities, including beefing up speeds for customers of its Internet Essentials product, accelerating the rollout of its Lift Zones program, and funding organizations working for social justice and equality through digital equity grants. “We’ve [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-1-21 Facebook's oversight board said it will be soliciting comment on the platform's decision to indefinitely suspend former president Donald Trump from Facebook and Instagram. His accounts were pulled Jan. 7 after the Capitol insurrection and his use of his online platform "to condone rather than condemn the actions [...]