Sohn Wont Chair FCC If Confirmed, White House Official Says

Beautiful Monday! I can't say I had "cocaine hippos" on my bingo card this weekend. Send documentary news and advice from Pablo Escobar to: cristiano.lima@washpost.com.

Bottom line: Google releases long-awaited civil rights overhaul and Amazon halts work on HQ2. First of all:

Sohn would not be FCC chairman if confirmed, White House official says

Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn is one of a handful of Biden appointees who are key to breaking the gridlock at top regulators.

For more than a year, Gigi Sohn 's nomination to the Senate Federal Communications Committee has stalled amid ongoing political roadblocks. A lingering obstacle threatening her candidacy emerged last week: concerns that President Biden could choose her to lead the agency.

But Sohn would not be named FCC chairman if confirmed, a White House official told The Technology 202, ending long speculation that had marred his candidacy.

Last week, Republican strategists seized on an Axios report that initially said the White House wanted to "install Gigi Sohn as FCC Chairman" and accused the White House of trying to bait and switch whether Sohn was one of the five members. the agency will confirm. the seats. The report was later updated to say the Biden administration is trying to "install Gigi Sohn as FCC commissioner."

The defect was based on reports already circulating. The New York Post reported last month that Sohn, citing "insiders," said "White House officials have assured him they intend to make this their presidency."

Still, speculation about Biden's nomination of Sohn as FCC chairman has swirled for more than a year, fueled by his decision to nominate another high-profile regulator, Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan. after his confirmation.

As president, Sohn would play a greater role in setting the agency's agenda, a prospect that Republican senators have opposed. Sohn faces a lot of opposition just to be on the commission, and a plan to give her more power as chair could have further complicated her candidacy.

Sohn denied allegations during a Feb. 14 Senate hearing that the White House planned to select him to lead the agency instead of serving as one of its four other commissioners.

"I'm not going to be president. Let's put this on the table and put this to bed because that's the latest rumor on K Street, right? That the White House wants me to be president. That's not true, he said. He told senators in response to criticism that it pushed the FCC too far to the left.

A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not officially authorized to do so, confirmed that Sohn's testimony at the hearing was accurate and that she will not be nominated for president. The FCC is currently chaired by Jessica Rosenworcel , who has served on the commission since 2012.

It would not be unusual for Biden to appoint a new agency head without warning.

Biden reportedly surprised some officials in 2021 by nominating Khan to head the Federal Trade Commission shortly after the Senate confirmed him to a position with the agency. The White House did not publicly announce its intention during Khan's confirmation process.

Like Sohn, Khan has become a lightning rod for conservative critics who accuse him of trying to push sweeping liberal reforms. Allies of Sohn and Khan have expressed support for tighter regulation of the telecom and technology sectors, respectively.

Some Senate Republicans, many of whom voted to confirm Khan in part as a rebuke to the Silicon Valley giants, mocked Biden for the decision to promote her to head the FTC.

Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), now the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, wrote to Sohn to say he had discussed running for president if confirmed by the White House. Cruz said he had "a concern that what happened to Khan could happen to you."

"This committee already had a bait and switch with Lina Khan, who was nominated and confirmed as a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, but was later appointed chair by the president," Cruz said in written requests to Sohn. in February 2022. "While it was the president's right under the law, it was somewhat misleading."

While the Senate confirms the nominees of the two agencies, the President appoints their heads without the approval of Congress.

Sohn responded that he "has had no discussion with the White House or with anyone within the executive branch of an agreement under which I would be appointed Chairman of the FCC." Sohn said he looked forward to working with Rosenworcel if confirmed.

Biden nominated Sohn in January after his last congressional bid expired.

The FCC has lacked a Democratic majority throughout Biden's tenure, limiting his ability to implement the party's agenda.

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Google drops civil rights audit after years of pressure

Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a conference in Mountain View, Calif., in May 2016. (Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle/AP)

Google released an audit Friday examining the impact of its products and policies on civil rights and racial justice, in response to years of pressure from civil rights activists and Democratic lawmakers to demand such a review, my colleague reported. Gerrit DeVynck . The statement, which Google released with little fanfare in an update to its human rights page on its website, came hours after we reported that the company had contacted a law firm known to conduct the audit. .

"Unlike previous audits by other tech giants like Facebook, which have sometimes been harshly critical of corporate behavior, Google's review has taken a more cautious tone, highlighting ongoing initiatives to address harassment, discrimination and language online hate, while providing opportunities for improvement.” we write

"The audit identified important strengths and opportunities for Google to continue to advance civil rights, justice and inclusion," the report said.

The audit was conducted by WilmerHale, a law firm that, according to its website, advised at least two tech companies on their sales to Google and represented other major tech companies, including Twitter and Facebook.

Fraudsters use AI to scam families and test regulators

According to the Federal Trade Commission, fraudulent fraud is one of the most common types of fraud. (Tristan Spinski for The Washington Post)

Fraudsters running fraud schemes are using advances in artificial intelligence to cheat and rip off families, reports my colleague Pranshu Verma .

"In 2022, phishing scams were the second most common scam in the United States, with more than 36,000 reports of people being scammed by people posing as friends and family, according to Federal Trade Commission data," it said. report. "Advances in artificial intelligence have added a new level of terrifying, allowing bad actors to replicate a voice with just a few sentences of an audio sample."

Federal agencies, law enforcement and courts may be ill-equipped to deal with the growing threat, Pranshu reports. "Most victims have few clues to identify the perpetrator, and it's difficult for police to trace the calls and funds of fraudsters who operate around the world. And there is little legal precedent for courts to hold accountable companies that make tools to use them.

Amazon halts construction of HQ2 in Virginia

A newly renovated office building is part of Amazon's second headquarters in Arlington, Va. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

Amazon is suspending construction on some of its second headquarters in Arlington, Va., the company announced Friday, causing a setback to plans to expand its footprint in the region, my colleagues Teo Armus and Rachel Lerman report.

The tech giant is delaying construction at the site as the company grapples with a slowdown that saw 18,000 workers laid off. But local officials say the millions of dollars in incentives offered to the company are still valid, according to the report. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

"At the end of the day, we're going to see all the benefits that we envisioned when we started," said Arlington County Chief Executive Christian Dorsey (D). "It will take longer." Dorsey noted that the project is not expected to be completed until 2035.

agency scanner

US prepares new rules to invest in China (Wall Street Journal)

Events on the Hill

TikTok a potential target in upcoming US law banning some foreign technologies: Senator (Reuters)

within the industry

Snapchat is banning some children in the UK from accessing the app, according to data provided to regulators (Reuters)

Elon Musk has reopened Twitter for political advertising. But is it too late? (Politics)

Musk Delays Payment of Twitter's Amazon Cloud Bill, Threatens Ads (Information)

Facebook poised to reform its controversial cross-verification program, but only partially (The Verge)

personal report

Alphabet must bargain as contract workers organize, Labor Council rules (Bloomberg)

TRENDS

Sam Bankman-Fried is under house arrest at Stanford. The students are obsessed. (Lisa Bonds)

don't Four mistakes you make with the Internet at home. (Chirah Ovid)

Before you go out

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