{"id":1829403,"date":"2023-01-30T19:04:39","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T00:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1829403"},"modified":"2023-01-30T19:06:39","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T00:06:39","slug":"exclusive-bidens-fcc-nominee-works-for-a-think-tank-funded-by-the-telecom-giants-she-was-nominated-to-oversee-memo-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-bidens-fcc-nominee-works-for-a-think-tank-funded-by-the-telecom-giants-she-was-nominated-to-oversee-memo-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Biden\u2019s FCC Nominee Works For A Think Tank Funded By The Telecom Giants She Was Nominated To Oversee, Memo Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">42<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-bidens-fcc-nominee-works-for-a-think-tank-funded-by-the-telecom-giants-she-was-nominated-to-oversee-memo-claims%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1829403&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<p>The Biden administration\u2019s FCC nominee may have deep conflicts of interest with the companies she may oversee, according to a memo obtained by The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>According to the memo, Sohn\u2019s public records show that she is a consultant for the Benton Institute for Broadband &#038; Society, a think tank dedicated to expanding broadband access. However, many telecom giants have funded the think tank she has been nominated to supervise. Sohn has spoken out against this exact behavior before.<\/p>\n<p>According to Sohn\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thewellnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Sohn-Gigi-final278.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report<\/a> Sohn made $137,000.02 in the Office of Government Ethics starting January 2022 \u201cconsulting fees\u201d Nearly half her salary is reported to be from the Benton Institute for Broadband &#038; Society. Sohn described her work in the filing as \u201c[p]ublic advocacy, coalition building and strategic guidance that broadens public awareness about the importance of universal, affordable and open communications networks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the Benton Institute\u2019s website, Sohn has been a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.benton.org\/benton-experts\/gigi-sohn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Senior Fellow, Public Advocate<\/a> Since 2018, she has been a member of the organization and has published almost 20 articles on their blog. Another article was co-authored by her for TechDirt.<\/p>\n<p>According to a however, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.benton.org\/donor-recognition-dc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">donor list<\/a> also on the Benton Institute\u2019s website, the organization is sponsored by several of the largest telecommunications giants in the country, companies that Sohn will oversee if appointed to the FCC. Among the organization\u2019s \u201cPlatinum Sponsors\u201d are Google Fiber, the internet giant\u2019s fiber-to-the-premises broadband subsidiary; Verizon; and T-Mobile. One of the group\u2019s \u201cGold Sponsors\u201d The National Lifeline Association is a non-profit that supports federal Lifeline programs. \u201cSilver Sponsors\u201d Include AT&#038;T, Dish Network and Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>These exact groups have been criticized by Sohn in the past. \u201cYes, it\u2019s better that @FCC is again run by telecom, cable &#038; broadcast industries &#038; their bought &#038; paid 4 think-tanks,\u201d Sohn posted a sarcastic tweet in 2017 to respond to a critic. \u201cNow *that\u2019s* democracy!\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes, it\u2019s better that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FCC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@FCC<\/a> It is once again controlled by the broadcast, cable and telecom industries. They also bought &#038; paid for 4 think-tanks. Now *that\u2019s* democracy! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7rlzHTeqDD\">https:\/\/t.co\/7rlzHTeqDD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Gigi Sohn (@gigibsohn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gigibsohn\/status\/935863910044971010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 29, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sohn&#8217;s position at the Benton Institute is advertised in her Twitter bio.<\/p>\n<p>January 3, 2009, President Joe Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2023\/01\/03\/nominations-sent-to-the-senate-91\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">re-nominated<\/a> Sohn will fill the vacant FCC seat previously held by Ajit Pay. She was previously nominated by Ajit Pai in 2021. But her nomination was stopped due to concerns about her overtly partisan statements, and advocating for censorship on conservative news networks such as Sinclair Media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy principal concern with Ms. Sohn is that she has expressed a significant willingness to use government power against political enemies, and to use government power as a tool of censorship,\u201d Texas Republican Senator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/cruz-sounds-alarm-on-biden-fcc-nominee-dangerous-place-for-a-partisan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ted Cruz<\/a> In a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in March last year. \u201cAnd I think the FCC is a particularly dangerous place for a partisan who is willing to try to muzzle those with whom she disagrees.\u201d Cruz also raised ethical concerns regarding a secret settlement reached by the company Cruz served on its board, one day after Biden announced that she would be nominating her.<\/p>\n<p>Her nomination was blocked in the Commerce Committee. She was sent to the full Senate for confirmation with additional procedural hurdles. The Senate did not bring the nomination to the floor and instead sent the confirmation to Biden on the 3rd of January, before the 117th Congress ended and the 118th Congress began.<\/p>\n<p>Sohn is currently under fire for her role on the board. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/bidens-fcc-nominee-sits-board-group-opposes-anti-sex-trafficking-efforts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Electronic Frontier Foundation<\/a> (EFF) opposed two bipartisan laws that were passed in 2018 to stop online sex trading and also shared a tweet. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/bidens-fcc-nominee-gigi-sohn-shared-tweet-calling-trump-raggedy-white-supremacist-president\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attacking<\/a> Ex-President Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Biden administration\u2019s FCC nominee may have deep conflicts of interest with the companies she may oversee, according to a memo obtained by The Daily Wire. According to the memo, Sohn\u2019s public records show that she is a consultant for the Benton Institute for Broadband &amp; Society, a think tank dedicated to expanding broadband access. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":1412326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[3706,4856,3725,16609,9826,8357,17040,4222,4904,4843,5907,9123],"class_list":["post-1829403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-bidens","tag-claims","tag-exclusive","tag-fcc","tag-funded","tag-giants","tag-memo","tag-nominated","tag-nominee","tag-oversee","tag-tank","tag-telecom"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1829403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1829403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1829403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1412326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1829403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1829403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1829403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}