Democracy Forward Asks Court to Compel FCC FOIA Response
The Democracy Forward Foundation has asked a federal court to compel the FCC to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests for emails and messages from Chairman Brendan Carr and his staff related to the agency's actions against media companies. “DFF filed FOIA requests to shed light on the actions and priorities of FCC leadership, particularly given the agency’s use of its authority to restrain protected speech and expression,” said the complaint, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
One FOIA request, submitted Sept. 18, seeks emails sent by Carr and his staff to nongovernmental email addresses, as well as text and other messages sent with Signal or WhatsApp to “individuals outside the executive branch of the federal government that concern agency business.” A second seeks emails and texts that contain key terms related to the events, people and companies involved in the preemption of Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the Skydance/ Paramount deal. It also seeks records of communications between Carr’s office and the White House.
Besides acknowledging receipt of the requests, the FCC hasn’t responded and is now outside the time required by law, DFF said in its complaint. It asked the court to order the FCC to search for the records and produce them. The FCC didn’t comment.