Numerous industry and FCC officials told us Tuesday that FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington is expected to leave the agency or announce an imminent departure this week. Simington and his office didn’t respond to requests for comment. Simington’s term expired last year, but he was expected to stay until the end of 2025.
Social Media
Social media platforms are facing intense scrutiny over how they collect, share and monetize user data. As new state and federal laws focus on age verification, parental controls and transparency requirements, social media companies face legal risks around algorithmic targeting, third-party tracking and children's safety. This page follows key legislation, investigations and lawsuits shaping privacy practices for major social platforms.
Federal budget-cutting could mean degraded quality and timeliness of emergency alerts during major storms and disasters, emergency response and weather experts tell us. A number of advocacy groups, from the Urban Institute to the Natural Resources Defense Council, have raised concerns about budget cuts for the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster response. Others say budgetary issues won't harm emergency alerting, and the system remains robust.
NPR and three public radio stations filed a lawsuit Tuesday that asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block a White House executive order cutting funding for NPR and PBS (see 2505020044).
Nebraska became the latest state this week to restrict students' use of cellphones during school hours (see 2501130041). LB-140, which Gov. Jim Pillen (R) signed Tuesday, will go into effect during the 2025-26 school year. It provides certain exemptions for students with individualized education plans, emergencies and educational purposes. The law also clarifies that the restriction doesn't authorize monitoring, collecting or assessing information on a device that isn't owned or provided by a school district. "The research is clear about the detriments from overexposure to social media and the way Big Tech works to keep kids online and coming back for more," Pillen said.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said Friday at a policy forum that removing all minority-party commissioners would weaken the agency’s ability to defend its rules in court. “The Communications Act doesn't just require three commissioners for quorum,” she told the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Tech Freedom audience. “It requires that there will be one member of a minority party, and that, in and of itself, could weaken whatever defense that a future FCC may have if there is no such single minority party member.” The agency also wouldn’t be able to present evidence that it had considered dissenting opinions, making it harder for a one-party FCC to present itself as an expert agency, said Gomez and Tech Freedom President Berin Szoka.
Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday amplified a social media post from Gavin Wax, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington’s chief of staff, on improving American manufacturing and competing with China. “Important point by Gavin,” Vance wrote in support of Wax's post about making American-made tech products competitive globally. Vance chiming in to support Wax is the latest example of prominent figures connected with President Donald Trump’s administration weighing in on issues raised by Simington and Wax since the latter joined Simington’s staff late last month. Since then, the two have authored a string of co-bylined articles on mostly FCC-centric topics that nevertheless are drawing attention from powerful Republicans. Trump himself reposted Simington and Wax’s article on broadcasting network affiliate fees (see 2505020066), and Simington recently appeared on the shows of former lawmaker Matt Gaetz and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon to discuss his articles with Wax.
Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas and 21 other Republican senators are urging the FCC to “modernize [its] broadcast ownership rules to enable broadcasters to compete with today's media giants.” Broadcasters doubled down in late April on calls for station ownership deregulation as part of the FCC’s “Delete” docket (see 2504290054).
New York schools will implement a "bell-to-bell" device-free policy for students during the 2025-26 school year, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced Tuesday. The policy was part of an agreement Hochul and legislative leaders reached last week on the FY26 state budget. The budget includes $13.5 million for schools that need help buying storage solutions for devices. “New York was the first state to target addictive social media feeds, and now we’re the largest state to restrict smartphones in schools throughout the entire school day,” Hochul said.
A proposal from FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington to fight “fake news” by capping fees that broadcast affiliates pay networks could include provisions protecting Fox, broadcast and FCC officials told us. Simington described the idea in a Thursday op-ed, co-written with Gavin Wax, his new chief of staff, and published in The National Pulse. President Donald Trump reposted the proposal Friday morning on Truth Social.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s statements and actions as head of the agency run exactly counter to his prior positions as a commissioner, said the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s Robert Corn-Revere in an article Wednesday in The Dispatch. Corn-Revere served as chief counsel to former FCC Commissioner James Quello.