Press Release

Yesterday, Axios published an article detailing how the clock is running out for the Senate to confirm Gigi Sohn, President Biden’s nominee to be a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. President Biden nominated Ms. Sohn over six months ago and the vacancy has been open for over a year, keeping the FCC deadlocked in a 2-2 split. A deadlocked FCC is unable to fully address broadband affordability or move forward on a host of other communications reforms vital to our democracy.

Today, the conservative majority of United States Supreme Court struck down a law that prevents potential corruption from arising when politicians make large personal loans to their own campaigns only to repay them with donations received after Election Day. Candidates will now be able to take out millions of dollars in personal loans for their campaigns that can be repaid after the election by special interest donors who are effectively depositing money into a politicians’ personal bank accounts. Common Cause filed an amicus brief in Federal Election Commission (FEC) v. Ted Cruz for Senate with the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Democracy 21.

Today, more than 120 civil rights, democracy, and public interest groups called on the major social media companies to combat and curb election disinformation on the platforms ahead of this year’s midterm elections. In a letter to the CEOs of Meta, Twitter, YouTube, Snap, Instagram, TikTok, and Alphabet, the groups urged the platforms to take a variety of specific actions, including “introducing friction to reduce the spread and amplification of disinformation, consistent enforcement of robust civic integrity policies; and greater transparency into business models that allow disinformation to spread.”  

On May 9th, the White House held an event on broadband affordability, highlighting new service plans that numerous internet service providers will offer as part of their participation in the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program. The program helps ensure low-income households can afford broadband connectivity. The White House’s latest event on broadband affordability signals the need for Gigi Sohn, President Biden’s nominee to serve as FCC commissioner, to receive a vote in the United States Senate. President Biden nominated Ms. Sohn over five months ago and the vacancy has been open for over a year, keeping the FCC deadlocked in a 2-2 split. A deadlocked FCC is unable to fully address broadband affordability or move forward on a host of other communications reforms vital to our democracy.

A group of minority-owned media, civil rights, and public interest groups today filed a petition for rulemaking at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) calling for new data collection and reporting on the diversity of content vendors used by FCC-licensed media and telecommunications companies.  FUSE, LLC, an independent, Latino-owned entertainment company dedicated to empowering young, multicultural voices, led the group that included Common Cause, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Public Knowledge, and the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry.  The petition proposes establishing a new report that tracks the diversity of content vendors used by FCC licensees, including on traditional platforms like broadcast, cable, and satellite TV, along with affiliated streaming services, like Disney’s Hulu+Live TV and Disney+, Amazon’s Prime, Fox’s Tubi and Alphabet/Google’s YouTube TV.