Ajit Pai, the Trump-appointed Republican chairman of the FCC, announces he will leave the agency on Jan. 20, when president-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office
Pai's exit closes a four-year arc that began when Trump designated the net neutrality opponent chairman in January 2017, elevating a sitting GOP commissioner who had been a fierce critic of the agency's open-internet rules. The announcement lands just weeks after analysts flagged that Pai's signature decisions were vulnerable once the commission reverted to Democratic control, predicting his departure in a November 12 analysis of the FCC's coming flip.
First-order effects
The chairmanship opens up on Inauguration Day, and with a Republican commissioner leaving the agency entirely, Biden inherits an FCC where Democrats can take the majority and set the agenda without needing a tie-breaking commissioner.
Second-order effects
The decisions that defined Pai's tenure — starting with the net neutrality repeal — become the leading candidates for reversal, forcing broadband providers who built strategy around the repeal to plan for re-regulation.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, FCC chairmanships now function as fully partisan flips on a presidential clock, with each administration unwinding its predecessor's telecom docket rather than layering onto it.
The trend: US telecom policy is settling into a four-year oscillation, with each new president's FCC chairman reversing rather than extending the last one's rulebook.
He wanted to allow internet providers to block or slow traffic to particular sites and to offer higher speed “lanes” at higher prices. That would lead to an even bigger divide between a “rich” and “poor” internet. Now FCC chief Ajit Pai is leaving. https://www.cnbc.com/...
Ajit Pai will leave his post as FCC chairman on Jan. 20. Pai's Inauguration Day departure could set up the Biden administration with a 2-1 Democratic majority at the FCC if the Senate fails to confirm another Trump nominee during the lame-duck period. https://www.axios.com/...
It's official - Ajit Pai's last day as FCC Chair will be January 20, 2021. 🎉 But if Simington is confirmed, we'll get more of Pai's BS even after he's gone. 😡 https://www.fightforthefuture.org/ ... https://twitter.com/...
After 4 yrs of deregulating the cable, internet and communications industry Ajit Pai finally decides to leave the day @JoeBiden takes office. Did so much damage. https://arstechnica.com/...
Hey Internet, I know we want to celebrate the departure of Ajit Pai, but we have a new problem. The Senate votes Wednesday on ANOTHER Trump FCC nominee. The goal is to delay the restoration of net neutrality. We have to stop him: https://battleforthenet.com/ call https://www.cnbc…
Ajit Pai stepping down is an actual thing because the president cannot remove FCC commissioners at will. Pai's current term was set to run until October 2022, so he's resigning a full 21 months early.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will step down on the day of Joe Biden's inauguration. That could help Democrats reach a majority in the agency sooner than otherwise possible, which could have significant implications on net neutrality and other tech/teleco issues. https://www.cnbc.com/...
FREAKING FINALLY. @JRosenworcel and @MignonClyburn would both be excellent candidates to take his place. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to Exit Commission After President-Elect Biden Takes Office https://variety.com/... via @variety
I don't there there's been a single person that the entirety of the tech community has disliked more than this man. Good riddance. https://twitter.com/...
Good fucking riddens @AjitPaiFCC you anti-consumer shill. I hope you live in disgrace as a.... highly-paid telecom lobbyist. *sigh* https://twitter.com/...
remember how Pai's FCC spent years saying some modest rules designed to rein in telecom monopolies was “government run amok,” then immediately turned around and agreed to Trump's idiotic plan to have the FCC regulate social media companies? what fun https://www.techdirt.com/...
Great news, but net neutrality isn't out of the woods yet. At least one of Trump's three Supreme Court justices has suggested using the First Amendment to strike down Title II regulation of internet providers. New net neutrality rules should be carefully and narrowly written. htt…