Liberal FCC Nominee Has Some Conservative Support

Gigi Sohn

A  liberal FCC nominee needed to implement President Joe Biden's telecommunications and technology agenda is receiving surprising support from conservatives who say she has championed their freedom of speech, reports The Washington Examiner.

President Joe Biden's nominee for federal communications commissioner, Gigi Sohn, is a prominent liberal activist and a former Democratic staffer at the commission who favors net neutrality, stronger government regulation of the broadband industry, and the breakup of Big Tech companies. She would be the third Democrat on the commission, a five-member agency in charge of regulating the TV, radio, and telecommunications industries, along with ensuring broadband internet access.

Senate Republicans strongly oppose her confirmation, criticizing her not only as a left-wing ideologue who would favor heavy-handed regulation but also, unusually, as a threat to censor or block conservative speech.

They cite Sohn's advocacy for Sinclair Broadcasting Group to lose its FCC broadcasting license and her harsh criticism of Fox News as evidence of her willingness to censor conservatives.

Nevertheless, some prominent conservative media owners and commentators who have benefited from her advocacy, as well as certain state Republican representatives, have told the Washington Examiner they support her nomination.

They say their support is based on personal experience working with her and that they are confident she is a free speech advocate.

Furthermore, they say she has the right credentials to help push for productive broadband and telecommunications policies that will encourage competition within those industries, bring more diverse voices into the media landscape, and expand internet access in rural areas.

One Republican, former Rep. Chip Pickering, who represented Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District between 1997 and 2009, has even been lobbying for Sohn on Capitol Hill this week.

“All the conservative censorship concerns with her are caught up in the politics of the moment and fears with Big Tech — it’s not based in any reality of who Gigi is,” Pickering told the Washington Examiner.

“Anyone who knows her knows her firm commitment to the First Amendment and free speech,” said Pickering, who now leads a trade association for internet networks called INCOMPAS.

Sohn, 60, who is a fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law and Policy and a former Democratic staffer at the FCC, is one of the most well-known advocates for breaking up and regulating Big Tech companies. She also strongly favors regulating internet service providers such as Verizon and AT&T as public utilities under what's known as Title II regulations.

Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers should treat all data on the internet the same and not discriminate or charge differently based on where it’s coming from or to whom it’s going.

President Joe Biden's pick for a seat on the FCC will get a Dec. 1 confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee.