Wednesday, February 15, 2023

House Bill Would Require FCC List of Foreign Adversary Ownership of Communications Infrastructure

On February 3, Reps. Elise Stefanik, Ro Khanna, and Mike Gallagher announced the reintroduction in the House of Representatives of the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency (FACT) Act. The bipartisan FACT Act was originally introduced in the 117th Congress on October 25, 2022. The bill – which does not have a number as of this posting – is intended to provide greater transparency regarding foreign governmental influence and access to critical communications infrastructure in the U.S. According to Congresswoman Stefanik's press release:

[T]his bill would provide critical telecommunications transparency by requiring the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to publish a list of companies who hold FCC authorizations, licenses, or other grants of authority an[d] ownership by foreign adversarial governments, including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba.

The FACT Act appears to be a common-sense measure that deserves full and fair consideration by Congress.