3 Companies Settle Over Millions of Fake Comments on FCC’s Net Neutrality Rollback New York State Attorney General Letitia James Kathy Willens/AP Get the need-to-know news for current and aspiring technology executives.
email May 6, 2021 05:57 PM ET
Broadband companies funded an effort responsible for 8.5 million fraudulent comments supporting the repeal, according to a New York attorney general report.
Three companies responsible for millions of fake comments submitted to the Federal Communications Commission ahead of its 2017 vote to repeal net neutrality have entered into settlements with the New York Office of Attorney General.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the settlements Thursday along with the results of a multiyear investigation and recommendations for agencies to fix the comment-making process. According to the report, nearly all of the 22 million comments regarding the net neutrality vot
NY AG Says Right-Wing Operatives Discussed Targeting Black Neighborhoods With Voter Suppression Scheme forbes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from forbes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report by her office on Thursday that found “widespread fraud, as well as abusive practices used to sway government policy using masses of comments and messages to create the false impression of popular support,” for the FCC’s net neutrality repeal. Advertisement Hide
In 2017, ahead of the FCC’s vote, it was found that millions of fraudulent comments were filed supporting the repeal. In fact, one study found that 99 percent of comments from actual people were against the FCC repealing the rules.
James notes that “an industry trade group and three companies that are among the biggest players in the United States internet, phone, and cable market” banded together to try and create the illusion of support for the FCC’s repeal and give it “cover.”
May 6, 2021 3:19 p.m.
New York’s attorney general wrote to a federal judge on Thursday, asking to be tagged into an ongoing lawsuit against the right-wing hucksters Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, who allegedly sent robocalls targeting Black voters in an attempt to suppress voter turnout ahead of the 2020 election.
The lawsuit, filed in October by the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, focuses on a robocall that falsely warned thousands of recipients in several states that voting by-mail could be used against them specifically, by sharing personal information with law enforcement pursuing old warrants, credit card companies pursuing debtors and public health officials seeking to administer “mandatory vaccines.”