U.S. court says FCC cannot compel broadcasters to verify sponsors identities

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday struck down a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirement that broadcasters check federal sources to verify sponsors’ identities.

The court noted the FCC has raised concerns "that the Chinese and Russian governments have been secretly leasing air time to broadcast propaganda on American radio." The FCC rules finalized in April 2021 require foreign-government sponsorship disclosure at the time of a broadcast if a foreign governmental entity paid a radio or television station, directly or indirectly, to air material.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-court-says-fcc-cannot-compel-broadcasters-to-verify-sponsors-identities/ar-AAZuKMh

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Sam Alito mouthed the words "that's not true" when Obama suggested this could be a problem after "Citizens United".

[LiberalArkie]

1. So, we can run ads from "Trump is Christ legal fund" bringing out bad things he has done, but

he is forgiven because he is the 2nd coming of Christ?

[groundloop]

2. It probably doesn't matter anyway, by the time foreign money is funneled through shell companies....

a broadcaster wouldn't know where the money came from.

HOWEVER, with that being said, it's damned sad that big money is being allowed to control more and more of our government.

[Ford_Prefect]

3. The Roberts Doctrine rules us all.

[cstanleytech]

8. PACs imo should be required to reveal sources of monies to the federal

government at the very least with the information not being released of the sources to the public for 10 years.

[ruet]

4. Haven't Read the Decision and the Story Doesn't Dig Too Deeply Into the Reasoning.

How did they come to this decision? These broadcasters are licensed to use public airwaves. They should be able to be held to reasonable criteria to gain said licenses. In a US that didn't have a hyper-partisan judiciary, this would probably be winnable on appeal all the way to the SCOTUS.

[melm00se]

9. Decision

https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/DED0BACFFB0E8C748525887D004FC765/$file/21-1171-1954455.pdf

The Court held that

Because the FCC has no authority to impose that verification requirement, we vacate that facet of its order.

Translation: the FCC overstepped their authority specifically as it relates to step #4 of the In the Matter of Sponsorship Identification Requirements for Foreign Government-Provided Programming (36 FCC Rcd. 7702 (2021)):

Independently confirm the sponsor’s status, at both the time of the lease and the time of any renewal, by checking the Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act website and the FCC’s U.S.-based foreign media outlets reports;

the law in question is 47 U.S.C. § 317(c).

[NullTuples]

10. And here I just always figured it was like OFAC / SDN's

Where it's illegal to do business with entities on the list, so corporations have an incentive to take it seriously and always check whose money they're taking or who they are selling to.

[Scalded Nun]

5. More bullshit from our bullshit courts

[3825-87867]

6. Yet...

a journalist or reporter can be jailed for days, weeks, months or years for refusing to reveal their sources!

Sounds fair!

[Quanto Magnus]

11. However....

a journalist is not an 'job creator'.....

Different rules natch!

[FSogol]

7. Since they can't verify where the money comes from, they can no longer sell politcal or issue

oriented ads, Right?

[Hortensis]

12. A major anti-government/anti-regulation tactic is to deny/gut agencies' AUTHORITY

to do the jobs they were formed to do. Same for the EPA, etc.