• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Tech

How Trump’s FCC Team Could Cut Consumer Protection Efforts

By
Aaron Pressman
Aaron Pressman
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Aaron Pressman
Aaron Pressman
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 17, 2017, 10:48 AM ET
Internet Providers Should Guarantee Equal Access to All Users, Obama Says
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) headquarters stands in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Nov. 10, 2014. President Barack Obama called for the "strongest possible rules" to protect the open Internet, advocating stricter controls than a regulator he appointed and causing shares of Comcast Corp. and other broadband providers to drop. Obama's comments tilt the White House against positions advocated by broadband providers and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph by Andrew Harrer —Bloomberg via Getty Images

While President-elect Donald Trump’s declarations about foreign policy and healthcare have been making headlines, the new administration also appears to be moving quickly to remake communications and media policy.

Transition team members for the Federal Communications Commission—which oversees the media, cable, and telecommunications industries—held a meeting last Friday with administration officials to discuss a plan to deeply streamline the agency. The FCC would lose its consumer protection and competition functions under the plan offered by a majority of transition team members—most of whom have close ties to the telecommunications industry, Multichannel News reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

Those functions would be ceded to the Federal Trade Commission under the plan. The FCC’s enforcement bureau pursues consumer protection investigations of telecom fraud. Last month, the unit got a $4 million penalty and $2 million in consumer refunds in a settlement with Birch Communications over deceptive and abusive marketing practices. Various parts of the agency that oversee different communications markets offer proposals to stimulate competition and help evaluate mergers.

Once Trump officials take over, the agency is also expected to roll back initiatives, like net neutrality and Internet privacy rules, which were adopted under current chairman and Obama appointee Tom Wheeler. The plans are similar to recommendations from current Republican members of the FCC, Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Republicans in Congress have long been hostile towards many of the agency’s regulatory priorities during the Obama administration. Trump has appointed four people to his transition team for the FCC, three of whom are on record opposing net neutrality.

Transition team members Jeff Eisenach, an economist who has been on Verizon’s (VZ) payroll, and Roslyn Layton, a telecom industry consultant and visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, offered the proposal for a far more streamlined agency at the meeting, Multichannel News reported.

David Morken, co-founder of Republic Wireless and a late addition to the Trump FCC transition team, had a minority proposal to keep many of the Obama era rules, arguing they benefit upstart companies and enhanced completion, Multichannel News reported. Morken also pushed elevating the FCC to a cabinet level agency and increasing its funding.

Fortune reached out to Eisenach and Layton for comment, and will update this story if a response is received. A spokeswoman for Morken said he could not comment on the transition.

About the Author
By Aaron Pressman
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
North America
'I meant what I said in Davos': Carney says he really is planning a Canada split with the U.S. along with 12 new trade deals
By Rob Gillies and The Associated PressJanuary 28, 2026
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
Politics
The American taxpayer spent nearly half a billion dollars deploying federal troops to U.S. cities in 2025, CBO finds
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 28, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Right before Trump named Warsh to lead the Fed, Powell seemed to respond to some of his biggest complaints about the central bank
By Jason MaJanuary 30, 2026
14 hours ago
placeholder alt text
C-Suite
Jeff Bezos capped his Amazon salary at $80,000: ‘How could I possibly need more incentive?’
By Sydney LakeJanuary 28, 2026
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
C-Suite
Fortune 500 CEOs are no longer giving employees an A for effort. Now they want proof of impact
By Claire ZillmanJanuary 28, 2026
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
AI
Top engineers at Anthropic, OpenAI say AI now writes 100% of their code—with big implications for the future of software development jobs
By Beatrice NolanJanuary 29, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in Tech

In this handout, the mug shot of Jeffrey Epstein, 2019.
PoliticsJeffrey Epstein
Elon Musk and Jeffrey Epstein emailed each other for years trying to meet up, new Justice Department records show
By Eva Roytburg and Sasha RogelbergJanuary 30, 2026
7 hours ago
Big TechThe Boring Company
After a decade of silence, Elon Musk’s tunneling startup and its reclusive president, are hitting the media circuit
By Jessica MathewsJanuary 30, 2026
10 hours ago
MagazineEducation
The 1966 cover of Fortune Magazine welcomed the Information age. Now the AI era beckons
By Indrani SenJanuary 30, 2026
11 hours ago
Gamestop
Big TechGameStop
Five years after the short squeeze, GameStop’s CEO is betting on a ‘genius or totally foolish’ $100 billion-plus acquisition
By Jake AngeloJanuary 30, 2026
12 hours ago
C-SuitePharmaceutical Industry
‘We’ll save the world from cancer’: Inside Pfizer CEO’s $23 billion post‑COVID bet on oncology
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 30, 2026
13 hours ago
Sam Altman speaking into a mic.
AIOpenAI
A reported OpenAI IPO later this year may test investor tolerance for the AI boom’s cash bonfire
By Beatrice NolanJanuary 30, 2026
15 hours ago