i2Coalition Internet Infrastructure Policy Brief: October 2025

Your brief update on important Internet policy issues

OUTLOOK

Bipartisan Congressional leaders failed to reach an agreement by midnight on October 1 to pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the federal government operating. By month’s end, the shutdown had continued into a fourth week, with most federal government operations shuttered except for those deemed essential. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) ceased legislative activity in the House after the shutdown commenced, but the Senate remained in session and continued working. Throughout October, Senate Democrats held fast to their position that they would not vote to pass a CR to fund the federal government unless the measure included provisions to address several key policy priorities, particularly the maintenance of health care tax credits. Senate Republicans countered that they would negotiate with Senate Democrats on those priorities only after a CR was passed. Amidst the deepening stalemate in Congress, President Trump focused substantially on foreign policy, visiting the Middle East in mid-October to celebrate a U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage release agreement in the Gaza conflict. He later traveled to Asia to meet with top leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping. Upon returning from Asia on October 30, President Trump reported that the U.S. had reached a major one-year trade agreement with China that would ease tensions and result in overall tariffs on Chinese goods dropping by 10%, coupled with progress on soybean imports, rare earths and fentanyl issues. In addition, plans for a visit by President Trump to Beijing in April 2026 were announced. 

TECH POLICY PRIORITIES 

Intermediary Liability/Content Moderation. On October 29, the Senate Commerce Committee held its second hearing on “jawboning” with witness testimony from Google and Meta executives. The hearing centered on the Biden administration’s efforts pressuring social media companies to take down COVID-19 and election misinformation. On October 21, Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced bipartisan legislation–the Safe Cloud Storage Act–which would provide limited liability protections to law enforcement-approved vendors who store and transfer child sexual abuse material (CSAM) to assist in investigations of child sexual exploitation. 

Federal Privacy. While the Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Privacy Working Group is working to release draft legislative text on federal comprehensive data privacy and security by the end of the year, it is unclear if the process will take more time due to House legislative inactivity during the federal government shutdown. The Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) now has more than 60 co-sponsors. The House Energy and Commerce Committee reportedly plans to hold a hearing on online child safety after the federal government shutdown ends. 

Copyright/IP. The Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments for December 1 in the Cox v. Sony contributory copyright infringement case. Professors at the State University of New York filed a class action lawsuit in a California federal district court, arguing that the defendant Apple committed copyright infringement by using pirated books to train its AI models.

Antitrust/Competition. The federal government shutdown is affecting some federal court activity in major antitrust cases involving large technology companies. The antitrust cases against Google and Meta continued in October. Cases against Amazon and Apple, however, were paused due to the shutdown. The Senate Commerce Committee is planning to hold a future FTC oversight hearing. 

Broadband. The FCC has continued some operations during the federal government shutdown, albeit with reduced staffing levels. The Senate Commerce Committee plans to hold an FCC oversight hearing in the coming weeks. The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is working on a plan to speed up the BEAD program permitting process.

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