NTIA is expecting detailed comments from federal agencies this week about the proposed implementation plan for the national spectrum strategy (see 2311130048), Scott Harris, NTIA senior spectrum adviser, said during an FCBA webinar Wednesday. NTIA has shared with the agencies its initial thoughts, he said. Next, it will prepare “a full draft” implementation plan, which it will also share, and “kick off” interagency meetings seeking “government-wide” consensus, Harris added.

Under a House bill advanced Tuesday, Florida would not allow parents to permit their children to use certain social media platforms. HB-1, which advanced to a final third-reading, would remove minors younger than 16 from the platforms July 1. "Studies have shown that social media is having a devastating impact on our kids,” and the platforms know it, said sponsor Rep. Tyler Sirois (R) at a livestreamed floor session. Likening social media to “a digital fentanyl,” he said “our children are challenged to break this habit.”

Verizon Tuesday reported it added a net 318,000 consumer wireless postpaid phone customers in Q4, compared with just 41,000 a year ago. Verizon also saw 375,000 fixed wireless adds in the quarter, bringing its total to more than 3 million. Officials said Verizon is on track to hit as many as 5 million by the end of 2025. Verizon was the first of the major wireless carriers to report Q4 results. Verizon finished up 6.7% Tuesday at $42.23 per share.

Parents aren't the only ones responsible for protecting their children online, and social media companies should do more as their safety obligations evolve with the rise of AI, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said Monday.

Following last week’s oral argument in two Chevron cases before the U.S. Supreme Court (see 2401170074), the future of the doctrine appears in doubt.

With digital legislation proliferating, a key question is how different regulatory approaches can work together, speakers said during an Atlantic Council webcast Monday. They strongly agreed that regulation is necessary in privacy/data protection, digital competition and online content moderation, but the issue is how best to coordinate regulatory regimes, said Mark MacCarthy, Brookings Institution, Center for Technology Innovation nonresident senior fellow. Approaches include a single agency or voluntary cooperation among relevant authorities, as in the U.K., panelists said.

Consumer and industry advocates sounded alarms late last week over a proposed California ballot initiative that would make social media companies liable for up to $1 million in damages for each child their platform injures. Courts would likely find that Common Sense CEO James Steyer’s December proposal violates the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, said comments California DOJ forwarded to us Friday. For example, “Initiative 23-0035 is a misguided and unconstitutional proposal that will restrict all Californians’ access to online information,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said.

Senate committees will take a proactive stance on AI legislation in 2024 now that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has wrapped up his AI forums, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told us last week.

The U.S. attained generally positive results at the World Radiocommunication Conference, but 6 GHz band issues remain, Steve Lang, the State Department official who headed the U.S. WRC delegation, told an American Enterprise Institute event Monday. In contrast, other speakers argued WRC wasn’t a clean U.S. win.

A draft order on making the FCC's disaster information reporting system mandatory for cable, wireline, wireless and VoIP providers hasn’t seen many changes since circulation and is expected to be approved at a commissioners' open meeting Thursday, agency and industry officials told us (see 2401040064). The item, in docket 21-346, also includes a Further NPRM that would seek comment on extending mandatory DIRS reports to broadcasters, satellite providers and broadband internet access service providers.