Lawsuits blaming social media platforms for injuries and deaths are part of a long tradition of faulting speech for human conduct and suffering, the American Enterprise Institute's Clay Calvert wrote Tuesday. Theories that the platforms create social media addiction make it easy to shift blame for injuries and actions "by clouding causal, human-agency questions," said Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow of technology policy studies. Such cases ultimately try to put responsibility "on innovative technology companies whose lawful-speech services millions of adults and minors enjoy daily without sustaining or causing harm."
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.
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, sued the Trump administration Wednesday for canceling the Digital Equity Act competitive grant program, which had been approved by Congress. NDIA said it asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to order the administration to restore the program and “allow NDIA to resume shovel-ready projects aimed at providing digital navigator services to 30,000 people in 11 states.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr didn’t testify during Wednesday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Biden administration social media censorship actions, but many Democrats continued to deride him throughout the meeting for his mid-September comments against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as influencing the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air (see 2509180055). Meanwhile, First Amendment attorneys and academics said during an American Enterprise Institute event Wednesday that Carr’s actions have been more blatant than past FCC regulations against broadcasters and other licensees.
The release of OpenAI's video app, Sora 2, has resulted in a proliferation of videos showing up on social media that infringe on Motion Picture Association members' content and characters, MPA CEO Charles Rivkin said Monday. He called on OpenAI to acknowledge that it's the generative AI platform's responsibility, not rightsholders', to prevent infringement on the Sora 2 service.
The Senate Commerce Committee isn’t looking to bring in FCC Chairman Brendan Carr as a potential additional witness at Wednesday's planned hearing to examine what Republicans call government agencies’ actions to pressure major social media platforms to engage in “jawboning” (see 2510020041), a spokesperson told us Thursday night. Panel Democrats had been pushing for the hearing to include Carr because they want him to answer questions about his mid-September comments against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as influencing the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air (see 2509220059). A Senate Commerce aide confirmed that Carr “will be coming to testify,” but the panel hasn’t set a date yet, and it won’t happen “before November.”
Social media companies have a Jan. 1 deadline for reporting their content moderation policies to the New York Attorney General's Office, it said Thursday as it announced that the online portal for submitting those reports is open. The Stop Hiding Hate Act, signed into law in December, requires social media companies to submit terms of service reports to the AG's office, and report on the steps taken and on flagged or actioned items of content. “With violence and polarization on the rise, social media companies must ensure that their platforms don’t fuel hateful rhetoric and disinformation,” said AG Letitia James (D).
The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing November dates for an FCC oversight hearing that will likely feature heated confrontations between panel Democrats and commission Chairman Brendan Carr over his media regulatory actions, congressional aides and lobbyists told us. The hearing will also include the agency's other Republican, Olivia Trusty, and its lone Democrat, Anna Gomez, lobbyists said. Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has faced pressure from committee Democrats to specifically bring Carr in to answer questions about his mid-September comments against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as influencing the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air (see 2509220059). Cruz was among several Republicans who also criticized Carr’s comments (see 2509190059).
T-Mobile is expanding its T-Satellite service, which launched in June, to add to the number of apps that will work beyond the range of wireless coverage. “Essential tools like app-based voice and video chat, mapping, weather and social media sharing, among others, are now part of the T-Satellite experience,” the carrier said Wednesday. “We’re talking about unleashing the most loved and cherished features of the app experience.” In the case of WhatsApp, “T-Satellite users can now use voice and video chat with other WhatsApp users over satellite … You can now talk live, even video chat, and send voice memos to friends, family, co-workers … anywhere you can see the sky.”
Broadcasters, MVPD groups and public safety entities largely agree that the FCC's plans to revamp emergency alerting are a good thing, but they differ on the direction they want those plans to take, according to comments filed in docket 25-224 by Thursday’s deadline.
Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast planned to cease preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! and air the show on their ABC affiliates Friday night, said news releases Friday afternoon. A source familiar with the situation told us that Disney made no editorial or content concessions prior to the announcements.