i2Coalition April 2024 Legislative Brief 

Your brief update on important Internet policy issues

OUTLOOK

After months of negotiations, Congress passed and President Biden signed into law a supplemental $95 billion foreign aid package providing funding to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The package also imposed new sanctions against Russia, China, and Iran. The national security “sidecar” portion of the package added provisions that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations within one year or face a ban of the app in the U.S. The bill, now enacted into law, included the Protecting Americans Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, which bans the practice of selling Americans’ sensitive data to foreign adversaries. In mid-April the Senate briefly stopped legislative work to meet its constitutional duty to conduct impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas following the House’s delivery of articles of impeachment to the upper chamber. Senate Democrat leaders opted not to hold a full trial and dismissed the impeachment articles by majority vote. In quickly ending the proceedings, Senate Democrats contended that the behavior Mayorkas was accused of (related to border security and immigration) by the House Republicans does not qualify as “high crimes and misdemeanors,” the legal threshold for impeachment. With legislative work completed both on the foreign aid bill and on a 2-year reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Congress shifted its focus in late April to FAA reauthorization and the FY 2025 appropriations bills. Federal agencies are funded through September 30. Before lawmakers depart Washington in the fall to engage fully in campaign activities for the November 5 elections, Congress expects to pass a continuing resolution to avoid a federal government shutdown by temporarily extending current federal government funding past that September 30 deadline. 

TECH POLICY PRIORITIES

Section 230/Intermediary Liability/Content Moderation.  The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing on April 11 to discuss the future of Section 230 and possible ways to reform it. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cruz (R-TX) issued a report calling for greater transparency from online platforms regarding user deplatforming and recommending legislative solutions. 

Federal Privacy. On April 7, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) released a discussion draft of the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA), a comprehensive national data privacy and security measure. The House E&C Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce held a hearing on April 17 addressing the APRA draft as well as pending children’s online privacy and safety legislation. Supporters of the Senate’s Blumenthal (D-CT)/Blackburn (R-TN) Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), now co-sponsored by more than 60 Senators, are calling for KOSA to be attached to must-pass legislation in this Congress so that it can be enacted into law. Children’s advocates are also pushing for passage of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act 2.0 (COPPA 2.0).  Senators Schatz and Cruz are sponsoring a new online children’s safety measure, the Kids Off Social Media Act, that would limit children’s use of social media. 

Copyright/IP. The U.S. Copyright Office has launched an initiative to examine the impact of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) on copyright law and policy. The Office plans to issue a report to be published in several sections which will make recommendations about potential legislation and regulatory action. On April 30 the Senate Judiciary IP Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the NO FAKES Act, a bipartisan draft measure authored by Subcommittee Chair Senator Coons (D-DE) that would protect the voice and visual likeness of individuals from unauthorized recreations from generative AI. 

Antitrust/Competition. On April 23 the  FTC issued a final rule banning the future use of non-compete clauses for all workers while allowing existing agreements to continue to apply to current senior executives. The FTC’s rule has already been challenged with the filing of several lawsuits. On April 8, the FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division co-hosted the third annual Spring Enforcers Summit bringing  together senior staff from agencies, federal regulators, international competition enforcers, and state attorneys general to discuss enforcement priorities and coordination strategies.  

Broadband. As expected, at its April 25 meeting, the FCC approved by a 3-2 vote, an order in its Open Internet rulemaking that reinstates net neutrality rules and classifies broadband Internet access service as a Title II telecommunications service under the Communications Act. A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee plans to hold an FCC budget hearing on May 7 where the FCC Open Internet order is expected to draw ongoing, substantial criticism from numerous Republican majority members.  Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced a plan to mark up new legislation in early May–the Spectrum and National Security Act–which, among other things, would reinstate the FCC’s spectrum auction authority until September 2029. Using proceeds from spectrum auctions, the bill would also allocate billions of dollars to renew the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) which has provided financial support for Internet access to more than 20 million low-income households. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) has been leading efforts in the House to secure funding to sustain the ACP program. 

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