LOS ANGELES—Donald Trump this week nominated former telecommunications industry corporate lawyer Nathan Simington, a critic of the foundational internet law known as Section 230, to a seat on the five-member Federal Communications Commission. Simington reportedly played a major role in authoring a petition to the FCC for a “review” and rewrite of Section 230, according to a report by the tech news site The Verge.
Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act is known as the “First Amendment of the Internet.” The law allows online platforms to post a nearly unlimited range of content by shielding those platforms from legal liability for content posted by users.
But in May, the Trump signed an executive order calling for Section 230 to come under review, claiming that the law permitted social media companies to censor conservative viewpoints, including his own Twitter postings. Responding to the order, the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (a branch of the Commerce Department) submitted a written petition to the FCC, asking the commission to undertake a review and rewrite of Section 230.
Simington, who now serves as senior adviser to the NTIA, was one of the driving forces behind that petition, according to The Verge.
The FCC must vote on whether to take up the petition, and the addition of Simington — assuming his nomination is confirmed by the Senate, which appears likely — gives Trump three votes in favor. Trump had previously nominated current Republican FCC commissioner Mike O’Rielly to a third term on the board. But he pulled the renomination after O’Rielly gave a speech in which he expressed skepticism about moves by both Republicans and Democrats to regulate speech on the internet — the issue at the heart of the Section 230 controversy.
“As a conservative, I’m troubled voices are stifled by liberal tech leaders,” O’Rielly tweeted, following the signing of Trump’s executive order. “At same time, I’m extremely dedicated to First Amendment which governs much here.”
In his July 29 speech, O’Rielly said the First Amendment applies to “corporate entities” as well as individuals and the press. Though he was quick to state that his views were “not in any way directed toward President Trump or those in the White House," they were taken as a signal that he may not support Trump’s proposed rollbacks to Section 230 protections.
By contrast, according to a Reuters report, Simington helped write Trump’s executive order, as well as the NTIA’s subsequent petition.
Photo by Nathan Simington Linkedin Page
