FCC Sued Over DOGE FOIA Request
A journalist and public interest group have sued the FCC in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to compel the agency to release records related to the Department of Government Efficiency. Nina Burleigh, a contributor to The…
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New Republic and The New York Times, and Frequency Forward jointly asked the court to require the FCC to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for records on DOGE’s activities at the agency. The FCC hasn’t answered the March 4 request, the complaint said, even though a response was due March 24. DOGE’s efforts could create a conflict of interest because FCC regulatee Starlink and DOGE are controlled by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the complaint said. Starlink has requested Rural Digital Opportunity Fund dollars, and information accessed by DOGE could give Musk an unfair advantage, it said. “No apparent effort has been made to segregate Musk from the FCC’s decision-making process.” Frequency Forward is a newly created group based out of the office of Smithwick & Belendiuk, which is representing the group in both the FOIA matter and a recent petition against Sinclair (see 2504150056).