Social Media

California’s Senate Judiciary Committee voted 9-2 Tuesday to advance a bill that would force tech platforms to pay news publishers for the news content they carry, similar to approaches seen in Australia, Canada and Europe.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court was "wrong" when it affirmed a district court’s “sweeping” preliminary injunction that barred dozens of White House officials and four federal agencies from coercing social media platforms to moderate their content, the U.S. Supreme Court said in a 6-3 decision Wednesday in Murthy v. Missouri (docket 23-411).

The FCC, intervenors and amici who benefit from E-rate funding contend that authorizing Wi-Fi on school buses will advance students’ education, but there’s “powerful and growing evidence to doubt that claim,” petitioners Maurine and Matthew Molak said in their 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court reply brief Monday (docket 23-60641).

Several governors put their signature on public safety and social media state bills in recent days. On Monday, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D) signed a bill (HB-7087) to quicken business responses to state-declared disasters by updating tax and business registration rules. CTIA supported the bill in February, testifying that “wireless providers need the flexibility to bring out-of-state employees into the state temporarily without having to subject those employees to state or local tax withholding or payments or subject them to state licensing or registration requirements during a declared disaster.” It takes effect immediately. On Friday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) signed HB-2339, which would remove the term “enhanced” from state 911 law so that Hawaii can fund future emergency number technologies. The bill becomes effective Monday. Last week, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) supported barring social media companies from collecting data on residents younger than 18 for targeted ads. Landry signed HB-577, which earlier passed both chambers of the legislature unanimously (see 2405230039).

Forcing tech platforms to pay for news content isn’t the right approach to protect local journalism, a Public Knowledge policy expert, an independent lawyer and a local news publisher executive said Monday. They spoke against proposals like the California Journalism Preservation Act, which will be considered at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday (see 2406120049). During a Computer & Communications Industry Association event, internet attorney Cathy Gellis said public discourse depends on access to information, and pay-for-news proposals reduce platforms’ incentives to share links. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has championed a federal bill requiring platforms to pay to carry news (see 2309010048); similar proposals are seen in Canada and Australia. In the U.S., these proposals create First Amendment issues and conflicts with copyright law, whose purpose is ensuring the public benefits from copyrighted material, Gellis said. Public Knowledge Policy Director Lisa Macpherson noted the Copyright Office previously argued against copyright solutions for news publishers facing financial hardship (see 2206300023). Lion Publishers Executive Director Chris Krewson, who represents more than 500 independent news publishers, said saving small news outlets isn’t a journalism issue but rather a small-business problem. He said his members benefit from exposure and link-sharing on social media. The better solution is legislation that helps media startups with costs related to healthcare, media liability insurance and technology, said Krewson. "The death of your local newspaper is not the death of local news," he said, defending his members' ability to produce content independently.

Enzoic, dark web intelligence platform, announces co-founder Kristen Ranta Haikal Wilson as CEO, replacing Michael Greene, remaining with Enzoic as an adviser and board member ... Azuki, Web3 anime platform, hires CJ ENM's Steve Chung, also former Fox, as its first chief operating officer ... Roar Social, Gen Z social media platform, promotes Mike Dodge to president-chief operating officer ... Reco SaaS security provider names Merritt Baer, most recently chief information security officer at Lacework, chief information security officer ... Video platform HeyGen adds Dave King, former chief marketing officer-Asana, as chief business officer; Ron Yang, ex-vice president-engineering at Hubspot, as chief technology officer; and Lavanya Poreddy, ex-assistant vice president at Wipro, as head-trust and safety ... Quantum computing company IonQ promotes Dean Kassmann to senior vice president-engineering and technology ... Zeta Global tech company elects Imran Khan, Proem Asset Manager founder-chief investment officer, to its board ...Workday elects Sutter Hill Ventures Managing Director Michael Speiser, also Snowflake founding CEO, to its board as an independent director.

The federal TikTok ban that takes effect Jan. 19 is “unprecedented” because Congress has never “expressly singled out and shut down a specific speech forum,” said TikTok/ByteDance's opening brief Thursday (docket 24-1113) in the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit challenging the ban’s constitutionality (see 2405070045).

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us Thursday he supports allowing victims of deepfake porn to sue violators, as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., proposed.

International Intellectual Property Alliance appoints Pete Mehravari, previously leading the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Global Intellectual Property Academy, as Director-policy and legal affairs ... WIA names to WIA Foundation: Blair Crawford, executive vice president-Vertical Bridge; Lynne Hopkins, senior director SBA Communications; Tom Kane, CEO-NB+C; and Amy Jo Samuel (foundation chair), vice president, American Tower ... Bosch advances Paul Thomas to president-Bosch in North America, effective Sept. 1, replacing Mike Mansuetti, retiring and becoming adviser ... PayPal names Srini Venkatesan, formerly Walmart’s U.S. Omni Platforms and Tech, as chief technology officer ... AI platform Writer names Roger Kopfmann, ex-vice president–Coupa, as chief financial officer; Andy Shorkey, ex-vice president–OneTrust, as chief revenue officer; and Diego Lomanto, ex-chief marketing officer at Ada, as CMO ... Ramin Farassat, ex-chief product officer at Egnyte, joins Seclore as chief product officer ... Converge Technology Solutions appoints Gayle Morris, most recently Microsoft vice president, and Mary Hassett, chief human resources officer, Lam Research, to board ...

The “danger” of the federal government colluding with “concentrated private power” can’t be overstated, FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson said Thursday. The former Virginia solicitor general noted his state signing onto an amicus brief with 14 other states that sided with Missouri and Louisiana in a social media censorship lawsuit against the Biden administration (see 2405010079). Speaking at a Federalist Society event, Ferguson discussed how Missouri and Louisiana accused Biden officials of “coercing or colluding” with large tech platforms to “drive COVID-19 skepticism” off social media. “I cannot overstate the danger of government colluding with concentrated private power to infringe the liberties of everyone in this room,” he said. Ferguson said more states should assert themselves to protect individual rights when the federal government is “unwilling or unable.” Ferguson lauded Republican efforts in Texas and Florida to pass laws intended to address perceived biases against conservative content on social media. NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association sued to block those laws (see 2402270072). The central government is incapable of “doing anything like Florida and Texas did,” he said. The best governance is done by the people closest to those they govern, meaning state and local authorities, Ferguson said.