By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 7-24-19 The Federal Trade Commission has confirmed its $5 billion fine against Facebook stemming from the Cambridge Analytica debacle and, at the same time, filed suit against Cambridge Analytica and settled with a former top executive of the company and an app developer. The commission concluded that Facebook [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 7-23-19 The Justice Department has made it official: It is investigating the business practices of Big Tech, which it signaled Tuesday (July 23) may be harming consumers. President Donald Trump has signaled such a review could be in the offing. The Antitrust Division, headed by Makan Delrahim, said [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 7-10-19 A politically divided FCC voted Wednesday (July 10) to give broadcasters more flexibility in providing educational/informational (E/I) programming for children, changes Democrats said dis-serve kids. It is the first major update of the rules since they were implemented over two decades ago. The Report & Order (R&O) [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 7-9-19 In a victory for drug companies and marketers, a federal district judge has vacated a Trump Administration rule that drug manufacturers have to disclose their list prices in direct-to-consumer (DTC) TV, radio, and online drug ads. Drug companies had argued that the mandate would cause confusion, exceeded [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 7-8-19 Privacy groups are warning the Federal Trade Commission about not taking the right steps to rein in YouTube if it finds reason to strike a consent decree with the site over its handling of children's personal info. In a letter to the FTC, the Campaign for a [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 7-5-19 On July 4, FCC chairman Ajit Pai took aim at what he sees as efforts by elements of his own government to delay the rollout of critical 5G networks, and did so on a trip outside the U.S. That came in a speech to the Congreso Latinamericano [...]
By Jessica Gresko, AP, washingtonpost.com, 6-24-19 The Supreme Court struck down a section of federal law Monday that prevented businesses from registering trademarks seen as scandalous or immoral, handing a victory to a California fashion brand. The high court ruled that the century-old provision is an unconstitutional restriction on speech. Between 2005 and 2015, the [...]
By Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin, and Craig Timberg, washingtonpost.com, 6-19-19 The U.S. government is in the late stages of an investigation into YouTube for its handling of children’s videos, according to four people familiar with the matter, a probe that threatens the company with a potential fine and already has prompted the tech giant to [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 6-18-19 FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has signaled the FCC will vote at its July 10 meeting on an item revamping its KidVid rules, providing broadcasters more flexibility in meeting their children's educational and informational [E/I] programming requirements under the Children's TV Act. The FCC voted last June, along [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 6-17-19 High school sports and political candidate forums are among the programs the National Association of Broadcasters wants to be able to preempt children's programming for without the FCC requiring them to reschedule that kids programming. NAB General Counsel Rick Kaplan made that pitch last week to a [...]