---
title: "ABC Is Right: There Is No First Amendment Exception for the Airwaves, Says ITIF"
summary: |-
  Following ABC's Petition for Declaratory Ruling regarding the FCC's Equal Opportunity Rule, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) released the following statement from Joe Kane, ITIF’s director of broadband and spectrum policy
date: "2026-05-08"
content_type: "Press Releases"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2026/05/08/abc-is-right-there-is-no-first-amendment-exception-for-the-airwaves-says-itif/"
---

# ABC Is Right: There Is No First Amendment Exception for the Airwaves, Says ITIF

WASHINGTON—Following ABC's [Petition for Declaratory Ruling](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/business/media/abc-fcc-first-amendment-the-view.html) regarding the FCC's Equal Opportunity Rule, 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:

> ABC is right to call out the fundamental incompatibility between the First Amendment and the FCC's attempts to regulate broadcast content. The rules the FCC is invoking to target broadcasters rest on an outdated understanding of spectrum scarcity that economic and technical realities have long since shown to be faulty. It is time for the FCC to recognize there is no First Amendment exception for the airwaves. And if the FCC will not, the Supreme Court should.

**Contact:** Austin Slater, [press@itif.org](mailto:press@itif.org)

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2026/05/08/abc-is-right-there-is-no-first-amendment-exception-for-the-airwaves-says-itif/*