Webinar Panel Weighs FCC's Proposed AI Political Ad Regulation

On October 7, Free State Foundation President Randolph May moderated a webinar, "The FCC's Proposal to Regulate Political Ads Using Artificial Intelligence." Video of the webinar is now available online. The Federalist Society-hosted webinar featured a panel discussion on the Commission's proposed rulemaking that would require radio and TV broadcasters as well as cable and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) operators to include a disclaimer on all political candidate and political issue ads that contain content generated using artificial intelligence (AI). The proposed rulemaking also would require notice filings in online political files regarding ad usage of AI, and impose obligations on broadcasters (and cable and DBS operators) to act when informed by "credible third parties" that the ads being transmitted contain AI-generate content. 

The FCC's novel regulation of political ads with AI-generated content raises important questions about the scope of the agency's authority and the policy merits of the proposal. Those topics are ably tackled by the webinar panel, consisting of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Public Knowledge President Christopher Lewis, as well as Prof. Bradley Smith, a former FEC Chairman. To learn more, check out the webinar video. 

On September 19, the Free State Foundation filed initial comments in the FCC's novel AI political ad regulation proceeding. And FSF filed reply comments on October 7. text

Video and Audio Available for Webinar on FCC's Digital Discrimination Rulemaking

On June 23, the Federalist Society hosted a webinar titled "The FCC's Digital Discrimination Rulemaking: Facilitating Equal Access to Broadband Services." Video and audio of the event are now available for streaming and download:

Free State Foundation President Randolph May moderated the discussion amongst panel participants Harold Feld of Public Knowledge, Clint Odom of T-Mobile, and myself. The webinar included discussion of the FCC's authority under Section 60506 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. Does Section 60506 confer authority on the agency to adopt rules that would impose liability on broadband providers based only on a showing of unintentional disparate impact? Or does the statute require evidence of intentional discrimination. And what effect might disparate impact liability have on efforts to ensure equal access to broadband Internet services? Check out the online video or listen to the podcast to hear thoughtful insights on these and related matters. 

 

In public comments and reply comments filed with the FCC in its digital discrimination rulemaking proceeding, FSF President Randy May and I concluded that Section 60506 of the Infrastructure Act contains an intent-based standard for rules prohibiting digital discrimination, and that the text of statute does not support the imposition of unintentional disparate impact liability on broadband Internet service providers. During the webinar event, I emphasized that Section 60506 contains specific language that calls for an intent-based anti-discrimination rules and that the statute does not contain hallmark catchall terms that courts have identified as authorizing or permitting unintentional disparate impact claims. For discussion about that issue more, check out the webinar.