The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio,television,wire,satellite,and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction over the areas of broadband access,fair competition,radio frequency use,media responsibility,public safety,and homeland security.
Gigi Beth Sohn is an American lawyer who is the co-founder of Public Knowledge. She previously worked for the Ford Foundation. In 2013,Tom Wheeler hired her into a senior staff position at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). She left there shortly after Donald Trump's election in 2016. In July 2017,she held fellowship positions with Georgetown Law's Institute for Technology Law &Policy,Open Society Foundations,and Mozilla.
Kellyanne Elizabeth Conway is an American political consultant and pollster who served as Senior Counselor to the President in the administration of Donald Trump from 2017 to 2020. She was previously Trump's campaign manager,having been appointed in August 2016;Conway is the first woman to have run a successful U.S. presidential campaign. She has previously held roles as campaign manager and strategist in the Republican Party and was formerly president and CEO of the Polling Company/WomanTrend.
In the United States,net neutrality—the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) should make no distinctions between different kinds of content on the Internet,and to not discriminate based on such distinctions—has been an issue of contention between end-users and ISPs since the 1990s. With net neutrality,ISPs may not intentionally block,slow down,or charge different rates for specific online content. Without net neutrality,ISPs may prioritize certain types of traffic,meter others,or potentially block specific types of content,while charging consumers different rates for that content.
Mignon Letitia Clyburn is an American former government official who served as a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2009 to 2018.
Ajit Varadaraj Pai is an American lawyer who served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2017 to 2021. He has been a partner at the private-equity firm Searchlight Capital since April 2021.
Jessica Rosenworcel is an American attorney serving as a member and chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). She originally served on the FCC from May 11,2012,to January 3,2017,and was confirmed by the Senate for an additional term on August 3,2017. She was named to serve as acting chairwoman in January 2021 and designated permanent chairwoman in October 2021. She was confirmed for another term by the Senate in December 2021. Rosenworcel's current term runs for five years beginning July 1,2020.
Jeffrey Neale Jackson is an American politician,attorney,and military officer serving as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 14th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party,he represented the 37th district in the North Carolina Senate from 2014 to 2022.
Michael John Gallagher is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives,representing Wisconsin's 8th congressional district for the Republican Party between 2017 and 2024.
ByteDance Ltd. is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Haidian,Beijing and incorporated in the Cayman Islands.
TikTok,whose mainland Chinese counterpart is Douyin,is a short-form video hosting service owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos,which can range in duration from three seconds to 60 minutes. It can be accessed with a smart phone app.
Geoffrey Adam Starks is an American lawyer serving as a Commissioner of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He was nominated by President Donald Trump to succeed Mignon Clyburn who announced on April 19,2018,that she was going to step down on June 6,2018. Starks was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on January 2,2019. He was sworn into office on January 30,2019. Starks is affiliated with the Democratic Party. He was renominated by President Joe Biden for a new term and was confirmed by the Senate on September 30,2023.
TikTok v. Trump was a lawsuit before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia filed in September 2020 by TikTok as a challenge to President Donald Trump's executive order of August 6,2020. The order prohibited the usage of TikTok in five stages,the first being the prohibition of downloading the application. On September 27,2020,a preliminary injunction was issued by Judge Carl J. Nichols blocking enforcement of that executive order. The lawsuit,by then captioned TikTok v. Biden,was dismissed in July 2021,following the Biden Administration's rescission of the executive order.
Many countries have imposed past or ongoing restrictions on the video sharing social network TikTok. Bans from government devices usually stem from national security concerns over potential access of data by the Chinese government. Other bans have cited children's well-being and offensive content such as pornography.
In 2020,the United States government announced that it was considering banning the Chinese social media platform TikTok upon a request from then-president Donald Trump,who viewed the app as a national security threat. The result was that TikTok owner ByteDance—which initially planned on selling a small portion of TikTok to an American company—agreed to divest TikTok to prevent a ban in the United States and in other countries where restrictions are also being considered due to privacy concerns,which themselves are mostly related to its ownership by a firm based in China.
The political positions of Joe Manchin encompass the established political and economic positions taken by Joe Manchin,the senior United States senator from West Virginia. Manchin's positions are reflected in his voting record,public speeches,and interviews. A member of the Democratic Party until 2024 when he registered as an Independent,Manchin is characterized by his self-described moderate beliefs.
TikTok has sparked concerns over potential user data collection and influence operations by the Chinese government,leading to restrictions and bans in the United States.
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) is an act of Congress that was signed into law on April 24,2024,as part of Public Law 118-50. It would ban social networking services within 270 to 360 days if they are determined by the president of the United States and relevant provisions to be a "foreign adversary controlled application";the definition covers websites and application software,including mobile apps. The act explicitly applies to ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries—including TikTok—without the need for additional determination. It ceases to be applicable if the foreign adversary controlled application is divested and no longer considered to be controlled by a foreign adversary of the United States.
Jacob Helberg is an American author and technology advisor. Helberg currently serves as a commissioner for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission,and senior advisor to Alex Karp,CEO of Palantir Technologies. Helberg has commented extensively on US-China relations,and the national security implications of Chinese-developed web apps like TikTok.
The Hill and Valley Forum is a consortium of American lawmakers and venture capitalists first convened in March 2023 to combat China's influence on the US technology industry. Founded by United States–China Economic and Security Review Commission member Jacob Helberg,the working group includes Peter Thiel and Vinod Khosla. The forum's initial private dinner in Washington,D.C. was held in advance of congressional testimony by TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew,and was attended by then Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr.
