New York bandwidth companies are fomenting political propaganda | Online stories
A four-year study could conclude that US broadband companies were hiding their involvement in the project, which led to 18 million false comments about the crisis, said the Attorney General in New York.
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Major U.S. corporations paid for a “secret campaign” in 2017 to embezzle millions of fraudulent items from the Federal Communications Commission in order to give regulators permission to repeal neutrality laws, a New York lawmaker said.
A four-year government investigation confirmed that the companies were secretive, with 18 million people reporting 22 million false statements, New York’s Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement on Thursday.
In a Republican-led vote in 2017, the FCC repealed political neutrality laws banning Broadband broadcasters from favoring their online counterparts.
He later refused to be summoned to delay the repeal of the rules, saying he did not rely on suspicion. Ajit Pai, a former FCC chairman under President Donald Trump, said this would “restore online freedom.”
“Almost all the comments and messages that the Broadband companies provided to the FCC and Congress were false, not signed using the names and addresses of millions of people who did not know or accept it,” James, a Democrat, said in a statement.
The comments “did not reflect the real views of the people, with more than 8.5 million people using the names and identities of people who did not know or accept it.”
New York has said in a report that the campaign was run by a non-profit organization Broadband for America. The board names members including AT&T Inc., Charter Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., as well as CTIA business groups, which represent major wireless carriers, the NCTA – Internet & Television Association, and the USTelecom-The Broadband Association.
No companies or business groups immediately responded to emails asking them to comment on the report.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat nominated by President Joe Biden who supports political neutrality, said the report showed the commission had acted in a “fraudulent” manner.
“This was difficult at the time because even then the problems that had spread had become apparent,” Rosenworcel said in a statement. “We need to learn from these lessons and change because people need an open and fair opportunity to share with Washington what they think about the issues that affect their lives.”
