With the FCC’s Nov. 20 order adopting a definition of “digital discrimination of access” to broadband internet service published Jan. 22 in the Federal Register, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Association of Business and the Longview, Texas, Chamber of Commerce filed a petition for review Tuesday at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to have the order vacated. Tuesday’s petition differs little from the "protective" petition the groups filed Jan. 19 “out of an abundance of caution” in case the 5th Circuit determined that the date of public notice was the date of public release rather than the date of FR publication (see 2401230004). The U.S. Chamber “supports expanded access of fast, affordable, and reliable internet,” that “private sector innovation” drives, Neil Bradley, executive vice president-chief policy officer and head-strategic advocacy, said in a statement Tuesday. The FCC's new rule “will hinder efforts to bridge the digital divide -- hurting the very people it aims to help,” Bradley argued. It empowers the FCC to “micromanage the internet” and “subverts” the badly needed broadband investments included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, he said.

The FTC is extended the deadline to decide on the video game industry’s request about using face-scanning technology to determine user ages, the agency announced Monday. The Entertainment Software Rating Board, Yoti and SuperAwesome filed an application in June seeking FTC approval for the age-estimation technology, which uses facial geometry to determine whether a user is an adult. In September, the agency extended the original October deadline to January and now is extending it to March 29. The agency solicited public comment on the application in July, as required under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

Congress should approve legislation protecting children on social media, Fairplay said Monday, launching an initiative led by families of children who have died in social media-related suicides and accidents. Fairplay and David’s Legacy Foundation launched Parents for Safe Online Spaces, a parent-led initiative whose goal is raising awareness of social media's dangers for children. Members plan to attend the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing Wednesday when the CEOs of Meta, X, TikTok, Discord and Snap are scheduled to testify (see 2311290072). The advocacy groups called for passage of the Kids Online Safety Act (see 2312040058). KOSA is a “needed corrective to social media platforms’ toxic business model, which relies on maximizing engagement by any means necessary, including sending kids down deadly rabbit holes and implementing features that make young people vulnerable to exploitation and abuse,” said Josh Golin, Fairplay's executive director.

Competition policies like those contemplated in South Korea unfairly target American tech companies and harm consumers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement Monday opposing Korea’s Online Platform Competition Promotion Act. The chamber asked Korean officials to provide the full text of the platform legislation and ample time to respond. Opponents say the bill is a European-style law that runs counter to international trade norms. Proposals like this “trample on competition that clearly benefits consumers, ignore good regulatory practices fundamental to sound regulatory models, and place governments in a position of violating their trade commitments by arbitrarily targeting foreign firms,” said Charles Freeman, senior vice president-Asia.

Amazon abandoned its $1.4 billion acquisition of robot vacuum company iRobot due to EU opposition, the companies said Monday. Amazon will pay Roomba-maker iRobot a $94 million termination fee, they added. IRobot said it will lay off 350 employees, or 31% of its workforce, as a result of the decision. It will focus on profitability and new initiatives. IRobot CEO Colin Angle will leave, and Chief Legal Officer Glen Weinstein will serve in the interim, the company said. The deal had “no path to regulatory approval in the European Union,” the two firms said. “Undue and disproportionate regulatory hurdles discourage entrepreneurs, who should be able to see acquisition as one path to success, and that hurts both consumers and competition -- the very things that regulators say they're trying to protect,” Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky said.

Companies must preserve documents needed in government investigations, even when using platforms that automatically delete messages, the FTC and DOJ said Friday, clarifying language in their investigatory requests. Companies are increasingly using “collaboration tools and ephemeral messaging applications, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Signal,” the agencies said: Companies are legally required to retain communications even if these platforms remove the messages. This applies to “second requests, voluntary access letters, and compulsory legal process, including grand jury subpoenas,” the agencies said. The FTC has “successfully moved for civil spoliation sanctions and may refer cases to criminal prosecutors” when companies fail to do so, the agency said.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court granted the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition's unopposed motion for leave to intervene on the FCC’s behalf in opposing a petition seeking court review of the commission's Oct. 25 declaratory ruling authorizing E-rate funding for Wi-Fi service and equipment on school buses (see 2401200001). U.S. Circuit Judge Leslie Southwick signed the order Wednesday (docket 23-60641). Maurine and Matt Molak are challenging the FCC's ruling because they say it will increase E-rate program “outlays” and raise the federal universal service charge they pay as a line-item on their monthly phone bill. They also contend the ruling gives children and teenagers unsupervised social media access on school buses, and that this runs counter to the mission of David's Legacy Foundation, which advocates ending cyberbullying. The Molaks co-founded the foundation in memory of their son. The coalition argues that the Molaks’ petition, if successful, “would do great harm” to the interests of the coalition and its 300 members by “inhibiting online learning,” it said.

Ring will no longer allow police to request and receive video footage within the Neighbors app, the Amazon service announced Wednesday. Fight for the Future applauded the move. “Shutting down the 'red carpet' surveillance portal they offered to police is unquestionably a victory for the coalition of racial justice and human rights advocates that have been calling to end these partnerships for years,” said Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer. This practice “was always dangerous, and had a documented effect of exacerbating racial profiling.” Ring said it’s “sunsetting” the request for assistance tool within the app. Agencies’ public safety tips will still be shared publicly, it said.

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI must update Congress on their security review of TikTok, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., and House Intelligence Subcommittee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, wrote in a letter to the agencies that was released Friday. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which collaborates with DHS and the FBI, began a national security review of the Chinese-owned social media company in 2019. It’s unclear what the agencies have done to address their national security concerns about TikTok, particularly the Chinese government’s access to user data, they wrote. Given TikTok’s more than 150 million U.S. users, the FBI and other agencies have “raised alarms about the potential that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could use TikTok to threaten U.S. homeland security, censor dissidents, and spread its malign influence on U.S. soil,” their offices said. TikTok and the agencies didn’t comment.

It’s important for policymakers to “turn off” targeted advertising for children as a default setting, FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan said Thursday during an open meeting. Khan discussed the agency’s effort to update rules under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The advertising issue is a “noteworthy” provision included in the agency’s update, which is open for public comment (see 2312280030), she said. Business models built on monetizing data can create a business incentive for “endlessly vacuuming up people’s data,” said Khan. The COPPA update ensures companies don’t “over-collect information about our kids in the first place” and makes it easier for parents to keep their children’s data out of the advertising technology ecosystem, said Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. Behavioral advertising can also result in inappropriate ads for children, but the FTC's core concern is that companies can create commercial relationships with children and prey on “the fact that they’re kids,” Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said.