Cultural diversity is neat. It leads to a greater understanding and exchange of ideas between people. It also leads to food fusion — the very same idea that brought us bulgogi tacos and burrito-sized sushi rolls. A remarkable instance of food fusion took place in 1930s Puebla (Mexico) when Lebanese immigrants introduced tacos arabes. Cooked on an upright grill and served on pita bread, this imported technique would eventually lead to a crowd favorite: tacos al pastor.
Celebrate diversity and celebrate food. And be on the lookout for the next food fusion, it may not top tacos al pastor but in theory, it could.
Content Moderation. The House Energy & Commerce Committee will hold another hearing next week with “Big Tech” companies. Committee Republicans have issued a “call to action from the public,” asking whether social media services apply their community standards “fairly” and “consistently.” We filed comments reminding Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of what she said in October 2019:
I do not believe these proposals are consistent with the First Amendment. Republicans successfully fought to repeal the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine for broadcast regulation during the 1980s and I strongly cautioned against advocating for a similar doctrine online. It should not be the FCC, FTC or any government agency’s job to moderate free speech online.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, although we have, over and over, for the past decade.
On the Ross Kaminsky Show, Berin explained why this debate about content moderation is really about the First Amendment, not Section 230 — and broke down why both Democrats and Republicans are wrong in their approaches.
Antitrust. We live-tweeted during last week’s House antitrust hearing, which focused on competition and press. In general, we criticized exemptions to the antitrust laws and pointed out that online platforms drive traffic, and revenue, to news publishers. We also noted that, in Australia and Europe, the platforms have reached voluntary agreements with press outlets to share revenue.
In response to a Politico story that released certain internal FTC memos relating to its Google investigation, we noted that many of the reasons that the FTC chose not to bring suit remain valid today. For instance, search competition remains a few clicks away. We also noted that the story contained some factual inaccuracies.
Media Ownership. In FCC v. Prometheus Radio Project — in which we filed an amicus brief last fall — the Supreme Court will soon decide whether to let the FCC implement long-needed reforms of the media-ownership restrictions the agency imposes on local broadcasting markets. Corbin was quoted in a Law360 article (paywall) reviewing the oral argument and previewing the Court’s decision.
Hasta la próxima vez,