The FCC should open an investigation into a Chinese hacking campaign that allegedly targeted communications from Vice President-elect JD Vance and the presidential campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday. Blumenthal was referring to a Chinese hacking known as the Salt Typhoon attack. In addition to the investigation, Blumenthal urged the FCC to begin a rulemaking process. Chinese hackers allegedly breached several American phone companies in an attempt to spy on American political targets, said Blumenthal during a hearing before the Senate Privacy Subcommittee, which he chairs. From a legal standpoint, the FCC can “set and enforce security standards,” he said. The investigation should be supported with “bipartisan unity,” and it can be carried over from the Biden administration to the Trump FCC, he added. Telecommunications Industry Association CEO David Stehlin testified that high-profile attacks like Salt Typhoon indicate a “need to address vulnerabilities within our [information and communications technology] ICT supply chain and mitigate them wherever possible.” He noted TIA’s 2022 development of SCS 9001, “the ICT industry’s first Supply Chain Security standard.” Stehlin called for a public-private “partnership that builds in the elements needed to verify trust and continually improve.” Blumenthal addressed issues related to TikTok, saying President-elect Donald Trump can’t ignore a new law setting a Jan. 19 deadline for Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest from the social media app (see 2411140057). Trump can extend the deadline once but can’t ignore the law, Blumenthal said: “If he wants to change the law, he can try,” but Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of it.
President-elect Donald Trump and Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr delivered additional bad news to broadcasters Tuesday about how the incoming administration may interact with them. Carr during an interview with Fox News that a news distortion complaint against CBS over its editing of an interview with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris (see 2410170051) could affect the Skydance/Paramount Global deal. Carr said he planned to “reinvigorate” the legacy media by emphasizing broadcaster public interest obligations, and referred to the Skydance transaction as a possible example. “I'm pretty confident that news distortion complaint over the CBS 60 Minutes transcript is something that's likely to rise in the context of the FCC review of that transaction,” Carr said (see 2411010044). Paramount didn’t comment. Carr listed conferring with Trump and the space economy as priorities for his upcoming chairmanship. “The first thing is to get together with the president's team and make sure that I 100% understand his agenda,” Carr said: “After all, it is going to be his administration, and his agenda we’ll be pushing.” He also listed tech censorship, rural broadband and accelerating permitting for the satellite industry as priorities. Carr repeated plans for ending the FCC’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion policies (see 2411180059). “The idea that the [FCC] listed its second-highest strategic priority as promoting DEI, there's no place for that,” Carr said. “And when the transition is complete, when we come in, the FCC is going to end its promotion of DEI.” Trump said he would nominate Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, who heads the president-elect’s transition team, to be commerce secretary. Lutnick, just days before the Nov. 5 election, said the U.S. should auction broadcast spectrum to only outlets that “agree to be nonpartisan” (see 2410280037). Lutnick’s comments came amid Trump’s fights with several major broadcasters over election coverage. Lutnick “will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” Trump said: Lutnick as transition chief “has created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen.” USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter said in a statement the group could work with Lutnick and the Commerce Department “to advance America’s global connectivity leadership by deploying more broadband, collaborating to prevent cyber threats, and spurring innovation throughout the economy.”
In a post-Chevron deference era, the FCC's space regulatory work beyond its spectrum bailiwick could be on shaky ground, space law experts said Tuesday during an FCBA CLE. Multiple speakers predicted "friendly chaos" for space policy from the incoming Trump administration, with it likely being friendly to commercial space but change being a constant. The Chevron doctrine, under which courts generally defer to regulatory agencies' expertise, was overturned this year by the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision, which gives agency expertise lesser weight.
In what could be its last full meeting under Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, the FCC on Dec. 11 will consider rules that would expand parts of the 6 GHz band where new very-low-power (VLP) devices can operate without coordination, beyond the initial 850 MHz commissioners approved last year (see 2310190054). Commissioners at the open meeting will also consider changing rules that govern letters of credit for USF programs and an item updating several broadcast radio and TV rules. Also on the agenda are various enforcement items, which will be released after the commission's approval.
Commenters disagreed on whether the FCC should require additional disclosures relative to AI calls, in reply comments to an NPRM that commissioners approved 5-0 in August. Consumer and public interest groups urged a smart approach, targeting calls that will most likely confuse consumers. Industry commenters said no new rules are needed now.
Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr swiftly pointed Sunday night and Monday to enforcing broadcasters’ “public interest obligation” and ending the commission’s “promotion of” diversity, equity and inclusion policies as key parts of his agenda once he becomes chairman Jan. 20. President-elect Donald Trump announced plans Sunday night to make Carr permanent chairman when he takes office (see 2411170001). Some congressional Democrats and public interest groups criticized Carr’s agenda, while many communications policy-focused groups quickly praised the long-expected appointment (see 2407120002).
The Trump administration will focus on First Amendment rights, and its agenda could include a review of the tech industry’s role in weakening those rights, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote in letters to Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft last week. Carr requested information that could “inform the FCC’s work to promote free speech and a diversity of viewpoints.” He noted the FCC’s role in administering the Communications Act, which includes the tech industry’s liability shield, Section 230. The statute grants tech companies benefits when it operates in “good faith,” said Carr. He’s seeking information about the industry’s relationship with NewsGuard, a tool that ranks news and information on social media sites. Carr requested the companies identify their ad and marketing partners. The companies didn’t comment Friday.
The Biden administration is making progress on each of the five bands it's studying as part of the national spectrum strategy (see 2311130048), Shiva Goel, NTIA senior adviser-spectrum policy, said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar late Thursday. Other speakers said the government must make available more high-powered licensed spectrum to ensure the nation doesn’t fall behind China and other competitors.
CTA is optimistic it can work with the new Trump administration on tech issues, two of the group's top policy officials told us. The outlook on spectrum policy and other issues isn’t completely clear, they added.
The incoming Republican administration and Congress will likely work at rolling back many of the current FCC’s policies through a combination of agency action, court decisions and the Congressional Review Act (CRA), attorneys and analysts told us in interviews. The CRA's threat also will likely limit the current FCC's agenda, they said. “The CRA is kind of looming over anything the FCC wants to try to do before the administration switches over,” said Jeffrey Westling, American Action Forum director-technology and innovation.