WASHINGTON—In a keynote fireside chat at the INCOMPAS Policy Summit, Federal Communications Commission commissioner Anna Gomez laid out her policy priorities and expressed deep frustrations with the FCC and the Trump administration’s policy towards broadcasters and media companies
During the Summit, which is put on by INCOMPAS, the internet and competitive networks association, Gomez began her remarks by lamenting that “unfortunately this administration seems to be more focused on tearing things down rather than building things up. And I keep hoping that we [at the FCC] will turn away from the partisan culture wars and instead focus on our core priorities.
During her comments, she also highlighted the importance of local broadcasters. “I want to make sure that we continue to support our long standing pillars of media policy, which is diversity, localism and competition,” she said. “You know, with the very prevalent misinformation and disinformation that we are seeing today, local journalism is all that more important, and so we need to make sure that we're supporting our local broadcasters. I'm concerned about this aggressive campaign that we are seeing out of this administration to bring broadcasters and social media to heel. I would really love to see us pivot away from those and towards these more core policies."
"And I'm hoping that you will speak up," she told the audience, "because not only are we seeing threats to speech, but we're also seeing government threatening private company decisions on labor practices, for example, which is not what we should be doing. We should instead be ensuring that we are connecting everyone everywhere.”
Among her priorities, Gomez highlighted affordable broadband, wireless innovation, getting the FCC auction authority restored and supporting local journalism.
Gomez also expressed concerns about the threats that the Universal Service Fund, faces in the courts. “These threats against the Universal Service Fund are quite serious in the courts,” she said, adding that she hoped that Congress and stakeholders might come up with a way to make the fund more sustainable.
“It's been two years since our spectrum auction authority lapsed, which is really problematic,” she noted later in the fireside chat. “You know, our action authority drives innovation and competition. It is important for economic growth, and not having that really is harming us in a lot of ways, not the least of which is the fact that we have very expert staff that are that understand how to run auctions…We’re going to lose that auction muscle if this continues. So we really need to get that spectrum auction authority back as soon as possible. In addition, we can't, it's very difficult for us to plan for future auctions.”
During the conversation, Gomez also expressed doubts about the FCC’s attempts to intervene in content moderation and potentially limit the scope of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which provides internet services with limited immunity regarding user generated content.
When asked about reports that the FCC plans to issue an advisory opinion on its authority regarding Section 230, Gomez complained that “I hear about a lot of the things that the FCC is doing only through the media…[But] If it's true, it ought to tell you that if they're issuing an advisory opinions, [it is] because, in fact, they don't have authority. And you know what worries me with regard to Section 230 and all of this talk about content moderation, is [that] it is an attempt by our government to control speech content moderation, [that] the Supreme Court has said, is, in fact, protected. It's protected free speech, and what you're seeing is an attempt by government to bully social media companies into...moderating or not moderating speech because of whatever ideology it is that they are trying to push. I think it's very dangerous.”
“Unfortunately, this administration seems to be more focused on tearing things down rather than building things up,” she said later at the end of her remarks. “And I keep hoping that we will turn away from the partisan Culture Wars and instead focus on our core priorities.”
