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MARCH 2023

CONTENT MODERATION,
SECTION 230 AND THE FUTURE
OF ONLINE SPEECH

In the 27 years since the so-called “26 words that created the internet” became law, rapid technological developments and sharp partisan divides have fueled increasingly complex content moderation dilemmas. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court tackled Section 230 for the first time through a pair of cases regarding platform liability for hosting and promoting terrorist content. In addition to the court’s ongoing deliberations, Section 230—which protects online intermediaries from liability for third-party content—has recently come under attack from Congress, the White House and multiple state legislatures.

Many Democrats want the ability to hold online platforms liable for any content they carry, arguing that Section 230 enables disinformation, hate speech and extremism to proliferate unchecked. Many Republicans want the ability to sue online platforms for any content they take down, claiming that Section 230 facilitates widespread censorship of conservative content. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have both called for the repeal of Section 230.

Learn more in the exclusive Broadband Breakfast Club Report for March 2023.

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FEBRUARY 2023

It’s a central concern looming over the broadband industry as it prepares for a massive infusion of federal funds for infrastructure deployment: Will the providers of fiber optic networks be required to use equipment that is not readily available within the United States? 

In mid-January, the Fiber Broadband Association sent a letter to Sen.
John Thune, R-S.D., ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications, Media and Broadband, about an issue the group said was “harming project planning and investment.”

The letter was referring to the Build America, Buy America statute in the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act, legislation signed in November 2021 that carved out $65 billion for broadband. The domestic preference provision requires that American-made materials make up the majority of the costs of projects using federal funds, which the FBA flagged as a possible problem that will require additional waivers to ensure the timely buildout of infrastructure.


Learn more in the exclusive Broadband Breakfast Club Report for February 2023.

JANUARY 2023

The allocation of billions of dollars of broadband infrastructure money is contingent on the big update to the broadband map of the Federal Communications Commission, which has set Jan. 13, 2023, as the deadline for challenges to a preliminary version released on Nov. 18, 2022. That deadline is intended to set a timeline for the version of the map — after challenges — that will guide the NTIA in divvying out to the states by this June 30 the $42.5 billion from the BEAD Program.

As cities raise issues with the current difficulty of putting together adequate resources to accurately challenge the map in time for a January deadline that even the NTIA head said made him feel “uncomfortable,” and as states grapple with conflicts between their mapping contractor and the FCC’s, Broadband Breakfast has laid out the things to know about the challenge process and a summary of how we got here in the exclusive Broadband Breakfast Club Report for January 2023.

DECEMBER 2022

From the first year of the IIJA to the controversies surrounding mapping, not to mention the ongoing fight over content moderation, it’s been a big year for all things broadband. Over the first 12 business days of December, we’ll dive into a dozen of the year’s most significant stories and analyze what they mean moving forward — exclusively for members of the Broadband Breakfast Club.

On the Twelfth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
❄ 12 or more state broadband officers
❄ 11th year of Xi Jinping’s rule in China
❄ More than $10 billion remaining in the Affordable Connectivity Program
❄ $9 billion Universal Service Fund
❄ 8,132,968 census blocks and a national broadband fabric
❄ 7.7% annual inflation rate
❄ Wi-Fi 6E
❄ 5 Federal Communications Commissioners
❄ $42.5 billion in Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment funds
❄ Section Two-30 of the Communications Decency Act
❄ 24 Reverse-Preemption Pole Attachment States
❄ and A Symmetrical Gigabit Network.