Blatant Hypocrite Ajit Pai Decides To Move Forward With Bogus, Unconstitutional Rulemaking On Section 230

Stupidity

from the that's-not-how-any-of-this-works dept

For years, FCC Chair Ajit Pai has insisted that the thing that was most important to him was to have a “light touch” regulatory regime regarding the internet. He insisted that net neutrality (which put in place a few limited rules to make sure internet access was fair) was clearly a bridge too far, and had to be wiped out or it would destroy investment into internet infrastructure (he was wrong about that). But now that Section 230 is under attack, he’s apparently done a complete reversal. He is now happy to open a proceeding to reinterpret Section 230 to place a regulatory burden on the internet. This is because Ajit Pai is a hypocrite with no backbone, and no willingness to stand up to a grandstanding President.

The key parts of his statement:

?Members of all three branches of the federal government have expressed serious concerns about the prevailing interpretation of the immunity set forth in Section 230 of the Communications Act. There is bipartisan support in Congress to reform the law. The U.S. Department of Commerce has petitioned the Commission to ?clarify ambiguities in section 230.? And earlier this week, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas pointed out that courts have relied upon ?policy and purpose arguments to grant sweeping protections to Internet platforms? that appear to go far beyond the actual text of the provision.

?As elected officials consider whether to change the law, the question remains: What does Section 230 currently mean? Many advance an overly broad interpretation that in some cases shields social media companies from consumer protection laws in a way that has no basis in the text of Section 230. The Commission?s General Counsel has informed me that the FCC has the legal authority to interpret Section 230. Consistent with this advice, I intend to move forward with a rulemaking to clarify its meaning.

?Throughout my tenure at the Federal Communications Commission, I have favored regulatory parity, transparency, and free expression. Social media companies have a First Amendment right to free speech. But they do not have a First Amendment right to a special immunity denied to other media outlets, such as newspapers and broadcasters.?

This is bullshit. And what’s worse is that Pai knows it’s bullshit. And he’s still doing it. Because he’s a coward. He saw what happened when his fellow Commissioner Mike O’Rielly — who was effectively fired for daring to point out that the 1st Amendment blocked forcing internet websites to carry his propaganda — and Pai folded like a cheap suit.

Pai is wrong in almost everything he says above. The FCC has no jurisdiction over internet websites. Previous lawsuits have already held that. Furthermore, the FCC has no jurisdiction over Section 230, which was explicitly written to deny the FCC any authority over websites. The FCC has no power to reinterpret the law.

The final paragraph is the most ridiculous of all. He is correct that social media companies have a 1st Amendment right to free speech. And Section 230 as was written and properly and regularly interpreted by dozens of court decisions — none of which the FCC has ever said a word about — helps guarantee that right is not diminished through frivolous, bogus, and mis-directed litigation. That Pai would ignore all of that to keep a whiny President happy should tarnish Pai’s legacy much more than his dismantling of net neutrality. The fact that he now goes back on everything he has ever said in the past about the FCC and regulations on the internet is just the fetid, rotten cherry on top of a giant pile of bullshit that he has created over the years.

Also, the claim that the immunity is “denied to other media outlets” is straight up wrong. ANY outlet is protected from liability for 3rd party content on their websites. It’s why Fox News and Breitbart can have comments on their websites. It’s why things like Parler and Gab can exist. Pai knows this. He’s just being disingenuous.

In terms of actual impact, all this will serve to do is rile people up, waste a ton of time, and not actually change anything. Because it can’t. But it will create a huge mess in the meantime, distracting everybody, and wasting a ton of resources.

As a final note: we’ve long disagreed with Pai about his stances on many issues, regarding net neutrality, the digital divide, municipal broadband and more. But at least he was consistent. I’d previously believed that he was misguided, but stuck true to his principles. That is clearly no longer the case. He’s a lying hypocrite with no principles, no backbone, and should be regarded as a complete joke. No one can even say that his stance on net neutrality was a principled “small government, fewer regulations” stance any more, because this moves proves it was not. He has no problem moving for regulating the internet when it’s politically convenient. And that’s just pathetic.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, ajit pai, cda 230, fcc, hypocrite, net neutrality, rulemaking, section 230