House China Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., urged that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. review Skydance Media's proposed $8 billion purchase of Paramount Global because of Tencent’s investment in Skydance. The Center for American Rights argued earlier this week that Tencent’s status as part of DOD’s list of Chinese military companies operating in the U.S. warrants an FCC probe of Skydance/Paramount (see 2501140048). “We’ve heard from multiple Hollywood executives about rampant self-censorship designed to curry favor with the Chinese Communist Party,” Moolenaar said in a statement Wednesday night. DOD’s recent classification of “Tencent as a Chinese military company” means “CFIUS should closely scrutinize the proposed merger to ensure the Chinese Communist Party is not further solidifying its hold on the American entertainment industry.” Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., in a separate statement, said the “potential for a [People's Republic of China] national champion like Tencent to hold a significant financial stake in a major US content conglomerate raises serious concerns and should absolutely prompt CFIUS scrutiny.”
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's final monthly meeting was largely a victory lap for the outgoing leader, with commission officials offering more than two hours of testimony Wednesday detailing accomplishments during her tenure. Also, Commissioner Anna Gomez criticized what she called an "apparent campaign to bring broadcasters and content platforms to heel" -- a seeming jab at Commissioner Brendan Carr's commitment to battle a "censorship cartel" (see 2411180059, 2412160052 and 2411080046).
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. has levied nearly $70 million in penalties so far this year, including a $60 million fine against T-Mobile after the carrier violated its national security agreement (NSA). The undated announcement was the first time CFIUS named a company it has penalized. It comes after CFIUS last year issued a record-setting four penalties and in April proposed expanding its enforcement powers, underscoring its recent focus on punishing violators and increasing penalties. The action against T-Mobile was tied to a 2018 NSA between CFIUS and the carrier. CFIUS found that “between August 2020 and June 2021, in violation of a material provision of the NSA, T-Mobile failed to take appropriate measures to prevent unauthorized access to certain sensitive data and failed to report some incidents of unauthorized access promptly to CFIUS, delaying the Committee’s efforts to investigate and mitigate any potential harm.” A T-Mobile spokesperson said Friday that several years ago the carrier “experienced technical issues during our post-merger integration with Sprint that affected information shared from a small number of law enforcement information requests out of the hundreds of thousands that we process each year.” There was no data breach or intrusion “and no bad actor was involved,” the spokesperson said in an email: “We take matters like this seriously. We reported this in a timely manner, and the issue was quickly addressed.”
The House will vote Wednesday on legislation that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless Chinese parent company ByteDance divests the popular social media app, an aide for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., confirmed Tuesday.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order directing DOJ to establish rules blocking large-scale transfers of Americans’ personal data to entities in hostile nations.