Simington: FCC Has No Jurisdiction Over Musk’s Twitter Deal

FCC regulations don’t allow the agency to interfere with Elon Musk’s buy of Twitter, a deal that could enhance competition and free speech (see 2204290074), Commissioner Nathan Simington said Monday. Simington rejected calls for the agency to block Musk, saying the agency’s competition review authority doesn’t extend to internet platforms like Twitter. Even if the agency had jurisdiction, “it would be inappropriate and contrary to the public interest to block,” he said: The deal doesn’t raise “any concerns about vertical or horizontal concentration in the social media market.” He dismissed concerns about concentration of ownership, pointing to ownership at Google, YouTube, Facebook, The Washington Post and The New York Times. The deal could help buck trends toward “curated and managed speech informed by the sensibilities of a narrow and unrepresentative class of insiders” and bring more diversity to social media, he said. It would be blatantly illegal for the government to try to stop Musk’s free expression approach, he said: “The law in this country does not recognize a government interest in restricting the open exchange of ideas.”