By Tali Arbel, Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The head of the Federal Communications Commission defended his plan to undo the country's net-neutrality rules by bringing the culture wars to telecommunications policy.
There has been constant media coverage since Chairman Ajit Pai last week unveiled his plan to gut the Obama-era net neutrality rules, which were meant to keep broadband providers from playing favorites with websites and apps. Tech companies, including Airbnb, Etsy and Twitter, sent him a letter in support of the current rules. Hollywood celebrities are speaking out against his proposal.
So Pai, a Republican picked by President Donald Trump to be the head of the FCC, is pushing back. His targets: the generally liberal bastions of Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
Pai's policies have been more favorable to the phone, cable and broadcasting industries than those of the Obama-era FCC. One criticism of Pai's plan to gut the net neutrality rules is that it will allow phone and cable companies to block some sites and apps while favoring others.
But Pai asserted in a Tuesday speech that internet companies are "a much bigger actual threat to an open internet" because they choose what people see on their services.
He called out Twitter specifically, contending that it takes action — such as suspending accounts or removing their "verified" status — against conservatives more frequently than liberals. He didn't specify who he was talking about, but Twitter this month "unverified" the account of white nationalist Richard Spencer .
Pai also noted that Twitter had blocked Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., from advertising a campaign video, which he said was because it "featured a pro-life message." Twitter said Tuesday that it didn't censor her video but also doesn't want to expose users to "potentially distressing" ads. Twitter later decided to let Blackburn advertise the video, in which she says that she "stopped the sale of baby body parts."
"Websites and apps operate in a competitive environment with low barriers to entry where choice and competition are a click away. This stands in stark contrast to ISPs," said Noah Theran, spokesman for the Internet Association, a trade group for tech companies. Most Americans don't have a choice of home broadband service providers.
Pai also said he was calling out criticisms from Hollywood because of celebrities' "large online followings" that "give them outsized influence in shaping the public debate."
He said comments by Cher, Mark Ruffalo, Alyssa Milano and George Takei in support of net neutrality were "absurd" and replied to them in his speech.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More