The Big Story: Congress revisits FCC’s role in broadband access and innovation
Policymakers honed in this week on the policies shaping how people connect to the Internet. At a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Wednesday, lawmakers and the three current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioners discussed several issues impacting how startups and their users get online, including strengthening broadband affordability efforts and auctioning their expanded spectrum pipeline.
Affordable, accessible Internet is foundational to innovation; would-be startup founders, employees, and users in underserved communities are unfairly left out of the innovation ecosystem when they don’t have access to broadband and digital tools. During Wednesday’s hearing, senators and commissioners discussed reform efforts to the Universal Service Fund (USF), the FCC’s $8 billion program that supports connectivity for rural communities, low-income households, schools and libraries, and rural healthcare providers. Several members of the committee are part of a bipartisan, bicameral working group that’s currently drafting legislation to make USF more efficient and sustainable. For startups, modernizing USF is critical to expanding high-speed Internet access nationwide and leveling the playing field for founders outside major hubs. The FCC’s sole Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, highlighted the importance of USF following the lapse and delay of other broadband initiatives and criticized recent FCC actions to undermine broadband availability. And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle stressed that broadband deployment should prioritize reaching truly unserved and underserved communities, which requires accurate broadband mapping to identify gaps. With the FCC’s spectrum authority now reinstated, the commissioners also laid out plans to hold spectrum auctions, which help wireless providers boost their network capacity and wireless broadband availability.
As policymakers continue evaluating changes to federal broadband programs aimed at closing the digital divide, it is critical to consider how those decisions—across agencies and Congress—could impact startups and the broader innovation ecosystem. As these debates continue into next year, policymakers should pursue broadband policies that expand access, strengthen networks, and support affordability, without introducing new costs or constraints that could slow innovation, limit entrepreneurship, or weaken U.S. competitiveness.
Policy Roundup:
Florida eyes broad AI regulatory package. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) this week outlined a sweeping state AI proposal that would introduce new requirements related to depicting individuals’ name, image, and likeness, AI infrastructure, and the use of certain AI features.The move follows President Donald Trump’s executive order last week aimed at overturning state AI laws, setting up a clash between state-level action and the push for a single federal standard.
House panel hears about role of competition policy in innovation. A House Judiciary subcommittee hearing this week intended to focus on foreign antitrust enforcers targeting U.S. companies covered a much broader range of competition policy issues, including startup innovation. Members from both sides of the aisle underscored the importance of consistent, fact-based antitrust enforcement and the beneficial roles that mergers and acquisitions can play. The hearing comes amid bankruptcy filings for companies involved in earlier deals that failed because of foreign and domestic enforcer involvement.
Lawmakers introduce bills to repeal foundational Internet law. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers introduced legislation this week that would repeal Section 230—a critical 1996 law that ensures Internet platforms can host and moderate content created by their users without having to worry about ruinous litigation costs. As Engine has explained when Congress has considered similar proposals in the past, repealing Section 230 out of concerns over a handful of content moderation decisions by large social media companies will do little to address harmful content online. Instead, it will harm startups that host user content and are able under current law to moderate that content in an effort to keep their corners of the Internet safe, relevant, and healthy.
TikTok signs deal with U.S. investors. TikTok’s parent company ByteDance signed binding agreements this week to sell just over 80 percent of its U.S. assets to a group of American and global investors, marking a significant step toward avoiding a ban after years of delayed deadlines. While the deal marks progress, it underscores the importance of shaping Internet policy through thoughtful, transparent processes that account for impacts on users and startups.
Startup Roundup:
#StartupsEverywhere: San Francisco, California. Autumn Labs provides software that makes it easy to monitor factory stations, and its process through a single platform helps organizations reduce production stoppages while enhancing product quality. We interviewed Prathik Muppidi, co-founder of Autumn Labs, to understand their software capabilities and the various challenges they encounter, such as broadband access, the H-1B visa lottery, and the limited definition of an accredited investor.
