FCC Should Stop Tying Merger Reviews to Partisan Views on HR Practices, Says ITIF
WASHINGTON—Following the FCC’s approval of the pending Verizon-Frontier merger, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, released the following statement from Joe Kane, ITIF’s director of broadband and spectrum policy:
While it was right to approve this transaction, the Commission should stop tying the approval of mergers to the chairman’s view of companies’ human resources practices. Extracting such commitments is mission creep and undermines the FCC’s position as an expert agency in communications matters.
ITIF has consistently argued that FCC merger review should focus narrowly on the statutory basis for that review and that the FCC should not become a generalized civil rights authority. The FCC should approve pro-consumer mergers without reference to partisan social issues.
Contact: Austin Slater, [email protected]
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The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute focusing on the intersection of technological innovation and public policy. Recognized by its peers in the think tank community as the global center of excellence for science and technology policy, ITIF’s mission is to formulate and promote policy solutions that accelerate innovation and boost productivity to spur growth, opportunity, and progress.
