Wheeler Slams 'Trump FCC,' Wants Antitrust Shift
“Digital companies” may have been too successful in avoiding regulation, former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told the Brookings Institution Tuesday. The rollback of Wheeler’s net neutrality order by what he called “the Trump FCC” included disavowing jurisdiction over the internet,…
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leaving room for states to step in with their own rules, Wheeler again (see 1903110063) said. Digital companies got what they wanted and maybe a little too much, he said. Wheeler said Facebook isn’t a neutral carrier of information but instead exercises editorial control over what users see. The company should release open application programming interfaces for how it gathers and publishes content, so consumers can see “what’s going in and going out,” Wheeler said. Current antitrust regulations can’t adequately constrain such companies because those rules are based on pricing and Facebook is free, he said. “The rules that have worked for industrial capitalism are no longer sufficient for internet capitalism.” The current wave of technological change isn’t unprecedented, and harkens back to similar shifts such as the development of the printing press, Wheeler said. His new book argues the internet hasn’t yet caused the same degree of upheaval, but it’s on the cusp of such an event, and the fast pace of technological change is short-circuiting democratic processes needed to digest the shift. That gap allows “authoritarians” to step up and offer “slogans instead of solutions,” said Wheeler, offering “The Wall” and Brexit as examples. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., also mentioned state telecom policy in his introduction of Wheeler, saying localities should be allowed to create their own municipal networks to compete with ISPs. Americans across the country unanimously support net neutrality, Doyle said. Facebook didn't comment.