The U.S. Supreme Court seems likely to reverse the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision against Cox Communications regarding music piracy by its broadband subscribers, a copyright expert told us Monday. Cox is challenging the 4th Circuit's ruling, which upheld a lower court's contributory copyright infringement finding against the ISP (see 2408160034).
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.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) on Friday signed into law a statewide ban on mobile phone use in schools, though he also criticized the legislation.
Top Senate Commerce Committee leaders told us they aren’t yet completely ruling out proposals to make the USF subject to Congress’ annual appropriations process as part of a legislative revamp of the program. However, some panel Democrats are dubious because of flaws in the funding system, amplified by the ongoing government shutdown (see 2510230049). In comments submitted to Congress' bipartisan USF working group, some stakeholders also strongly advocated for shifting to an appropriations-based funding model (see 2509160064). Meanwhile, panelists at a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition event Wednesday said they see appropriations as a largely unappealing option to give USF more sustainable long-term funding.
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts should block the state’s lawsuit against Meta and its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, said TechFreedom in an amicus brief filed Tuesday (docket SJC-13747). The state’s lawsuit targeting “addictive” features of the social media platforms violates Section 230 of the Communications Act, TechFreedom said. “The supposedly ‘addictive’ features the Commonwealth challenges are nothing more than publishing decisions: the cadence of content delivery (autoplay), the quantity of content delivered (infinite scroll), and the choice of what content to highlight (notifications),” said the filing. Those features are “classic editorial decisions” about displaying third-party material and “fall squarely” within Section 230’s protections for platforms from litigation over content posted by users, the group said.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us he’s still planning to bring in FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for a hearing before year-end, but Democrats are concerned that he’s slow-walking scheduling that panel amid their ongoing airing of grievances about Carr's tenure leading the commission, particularly actions that critics say targeted the media’s free speech rights. As expected (see 2510280053), Senate Commerce Democrats used Wednesday's hearing on the Biden administration's social media censorship to again raise concerns about Carr’s comments last month against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as influencing the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Government speech coercion might be unconstitutional, but companies with business before the government aren't going to push back, panelists said Wednesday during a conference about online speech organized by the Center for Democracy & Technology and Stand Together. Free-speech advocates also criticized the FCC and FTC for increasingly weaponizing their regulatory powers.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., separately told us that during Wednesday's hearing on social media censorship, they plan to again raise FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's actions that critics have said are targeting the media’s free speech rights. Commerce Democrats have been pushing Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to bring in Carr for a hearing. Cruz seeks to have Carr testify as part of a regular FCC oversight hearing, rather than during a censorship-focused panel (see 2510030062). Several Democratic leaders made Carr’s actions the focus of an unofficial hearing in late September (see 2509290062).
Parties including author groups and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) are backing a set of music label plaintiffs as Cox Communications appeals its liability for contributory copyright infringement stemming from piracy by some of its internet subscribers (see 2408160034). Amicus briefs were posted Wednesday from the Motion Picture Association and recording artist and songwriter organizations (see 2510220022).
SpaceX "is pretty much Earth's space program," given how it will carry roughly 90% of the world's payload mass to space this year, CEO Elon Musk wrote Monday on social media. He also congratulated SpaceX on hitting the milestone of 10,000 Starlink satellites launched to date. SpaceX "now has several times more satellites in orbit than all others combined."
The Senate Commerce Committee postponed a planned markup session Wednesday (see 2510020046) that would have included a vote on the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act (S-2666), a panel spokesperson said. The committee plans “shortly” to reschedule the meeting, which would have immediately preceded a hearing on Biden administration interactions with social media companies. Democrats used that hearing as a forum to again criticize FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for his mid-September threats against ABC and parent Disney before the network temporarily pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air (see 2510080049).