President Donald Trump has made it a priority to ensure “fairness” in media—both new and old. He isn’t waiting for Congress to act. The new leadership of the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division are eager to take action. Whether they succeed will turn on a series of complex legal questions about the authority of these agencies and how the First Amendment limits government interference in private media. Please join us for a two-day workshop, co-hosted with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), exploring the constitutional limits to what government can do about “censorship” and “bias.”
When: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm ET
Where: Thursday, May 15 and Friday, May 16, 2025
Where: Competitive Enterprise Institute, 1310 L St NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20005
May 15 – Can the FTC and DOJ Police Political Bias & Content Moderation?
The leaders of the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division believe these agencies can take legal action to ensure that social media companies curate and moderate content without political bias. They also want to sue advertisers for threatening to boycott platforms that won’t moderate content harmful to brands. But how do consumer protection and competition law apply to media companies? What action, if anything, could these agencies take that is consistent with the First Amendment? The FTC is taking comments on these issues until May 21.
Agenda
1. How the First Amendment Limits Competition and Consumer Protection Law
2. Consumer Protection: Analyzing Potential Claims
3. Fireside Chat with Former/ Fired Commissioners
4. Competition Law: Analyzing Potential Claims
5. Investigations, Jawboning & Remedies
Hosts
– Jessica Melugin, CEI
– Bilal Sayyed, TechFreedom and former Director of the FTC Office of Policy Planning
– Berin Szóka, TechFreedom
Featured speakers include:
– Alvaro Bedoya, FTC Commissioner 2022 – 2025
– Rebecca Slaughter, FTC Commissioner 2018-2025, Acting Chair 2021
– William Kovacic, former FTC Commissioner 2006-2011, Chair 2008-2009
– Alden Abbott, Mercatus Center and former FTC General Counsel 2018 – 2021
– Derek Bambauer, Irving Cypen Professor of Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, author of Against Jawboning
– Doug Melamed, former DOJ Acting Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust
May 16 – Can the FCC Police Political Bias and Reshape Content Moderation?
The Federal Communications Commission has initiated investigations into Republican allegations that broadcasters are biased against them, including news coverage in the 2024 election. Meanwhile, the FCC is poised to act on the Trump administration’s 2020 petition asking the FCC to reinterpret Section 230. Under this reinterpretation, social media companies would face endless litigation unless they drastically reduce content moderation to avoid fact-checking, labeling toxic content, or taking other actions that could be characterized as “censorship.”
Agenda
1. Commissioner Anna Gomez
2. The Fairness Doctrine Then & Now
3. Broadcast Licenses
4. Media Transaction Review
5. Would the FCC’s 230 Rule Violate the First Amendment?
6. FCC Authority over Tech Companies
7. Investigations, Jawboning & Remedies
Featured speakers include:
– Anna Gomez, FCC Commissioner 2023 – present
– Jerry Fritz, Chief of Staff to former FCC Commissioners Mark Fowler and Dennis Patrick and former National Association of Broadcasters Director
– Anna Gomez, FCC Commissioner 2023 – present
– Gigi Sohn, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
– Larry Spiwak, Author of Sauce for the Goose: The FCC Lacks Authority to Interpret Sections 230 Post-Loper Bright
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Find the event registration on our website, and share the event information on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky. We can be reached for comment at media@techfreedom.org.
About TechFreedom:
TechFreedom is a nonprofit, nonpartisan technology policy think tank. We work to chart a path forward for policymakers towards a bright future where technology enhances freedom, and freedom enhances technology.