i2Coalition Internet Infrastructure Policy Brief: December 2025

Your brief update on important Internet policy issues

OUTLOOK

Congressional activity intensified during December in the lead-up to the winter holiday break, with the House and Senate scheduled to return to Washington the week of January 5, 2026. To avoid a second government shutdown, Congress must pass legislation to fund the federal government by midnight on January 30. Meeting this deadline will be a major focus of legislative work in early January, as completion of all work on remaining FY 2026 appropriations bills was left unfinished in December. The FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was the only bill that had the perceived certainty of passage and enactment before January 1. No deal was reached among Republicans and Democrats to extend the contentious Affordable Care Act federal health insurance subsidies, so they are slated to expire at year’s end. Health insurance industry experts predict that the stalemate allowing the year-end 2025 expiration of the subsidies effectively means that monthly premium payments for 22 million Americans will rise an average of 114%. This deeply partisan Congressional health care debate will resume in earnest in January. President Trump continued rapid pursuit of a complex combination of his major international and domestic priorities. The President consistently underscored the benefits he sees for America flowing from his tariff strategies. While intensifying his focus on Venezuela, President Trump also dispatched his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his special envoy Steve Witkoff to conduct Ukraine-Russia negotiations with both sides toward ending the war. After the House failed to include AI preemption language in the NDAA, President Trump signed an AI preemption executive order. Growing concerns about Americans’ economic anxiety and affordability prompted President Trump to deliver a prime-time speech to the nation on December 17 to defend his economic policies.

TECH POLICY PRIORITIES 

Intermediary Liability/Content Moderation. Legislation to repeal Section 230 was introduced in the House and Senate in late December. A bipartisan group of Senators led by Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced a measure to repeal Section 230 two years after the date of the bill’s enactment. Senator Graham wants to build support momentum for this repeal measure around the 30th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in February 2026. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) introduced legislation to repeal Section 230 after December 31, 2026. 

Federal Privacy. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will resume work on a slate of bills addressing children and teens’ online privacy and safety, with plans to move to a full committee markup of a package of these bills in early 2026. The GOP-led House Energy and Commerce Committee Privacy Working Group to date has not released draft text for federal comprehensive consumer data privacy and security legislation but reportedly plans to act early in the new year. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a kids online safety hearing in December at which Chair Grassley (R-IA) highlighted a package of bills to combat online child exploitation by revamping federal sentencing laws, targeting online criminal networks, and cracking down on offenders who use child sexual abuse material (CSAM) to extort and coerce children. 

Copyright/IP. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on December 1 in the Cox v. Sony contributory copyright liability case, and a decision is expected in 2026 by the end of the Court’s current term. Meta announced several commercial AI data agreements with news publishers, which will allow Meta to provide “real-time” news and updates through its AI chatbot by linking to articles and websites from the publishers.

Antitrust/Competition. The Supreme Court heard oral argument on December 8 in Trump v. Slaughter which concerns whether the president may unilaterally fire members of independent commissions like the FTC without cause. Netflix faces a class action lawsuit led by an HBO Max subscriber which alleges that Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. threatens to minimize competition in the U.S. subscription streaming market and which seeks an injunction to block the deal. 

Broadband. FCC Chair Brendan Carr, and Commissioners Olivia Trusty (R) and Anna Gomez (D) testified at an FCC oversight hearing on Dec. 17 before the Senate Commerce Committee. A bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) is pressing the Trump administration to preserve states’ ability to use money left over from the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, as the 2021 infrastructure law outlined. President Donald Trump’s December 11 EO on a national framework for artificial intelligence instructs the Commerce Department to issue a notice within 90 days specifying the conditions under which such leftover BEAD funds can flow to states, and directs that no money go to states with “onerous” AI laws.

Find Out More…

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