FCC Chairman Ajit Bay abandoned his legal attempt to “clarify” Internet law

On October 15, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai She promised the FCC “will go ahead with setting the rules.” To clarify the “meaning” of Section 230, Internet law is very important Who protects freedom of expression online.

Apparently, Bae never got there – and after less than three months, he’s no longer planning it either, making it clear that he just doesn’t have much time. “[T]Here simply is not enough time to complete the administrative steps needed to solve the rule-setting process. Given this fact, I don’t think it is appropriate to proceed. ” Says protocol.

The reason for the short time is very simple: He will step down on January 20When Joe Biden became president of the United States.

But he might also give up because the idea that the FCC had the power to do something like this was laughable. Such as Recode Explain in depth, The FCC’s justification was actually that it had the power to lay down whatever rules they needed to set – which go against the logic his Pai is accustomed to. Kill net neutrality. But that hasn’t stopped Bai from claiming that the FCC has the authority to do so, a political tactic that has become so common in the Trump administration that my colleague Russell Brandum. Coined a phrase for that: “Legal ploy.”

Never mind that Section 230 isn’t actually hard to understand – admittedly though Not kept 60 minutes From falling on his face Earlier this week. Here is our explanation.