FCC: Foreign Content Rule Has Minimal Burdens
FCC foreign-sponsored content identification rules build incrementally on existing sponsorship ID rules and are designed to be minimally burdensome, the agency told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a response brief posted Friday in docket 21-1171.…
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The rules require “a simple name search” of entities seeking to lease air time and a narrower rule would either be ineffective or raise First Amendment issues, the agency said: A rule that required broadcasters to verify a lessor’s status only when they had reason to be suspicious or based on content would be “open to discriminatory application.” A “standard relying on broadcaster’s subjective belief regarding the risk of foreign governmental sponsorship would be ineffectual and unenforceable.” The rules respond to incidents where foreign governments were leasing large chunks of airtime, the filing said: The requirements aren't “fruitless make-work” but “a reasonably targeted means” for making the public aware of when a foreign government is behind a broadcast.