Supreme Court allows looser FCC media consolidation rules, sides with Facebook in robocall case

The Supreme Court said Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission could begin to relax the rules restricting single-company ownership of multiple media outlets in a community, clearing the way for more industry consolidation.In a separate ruling, the court said Facebook did not violate the federal law governing robocalls when it sent text messages to a man who said he never had an account with the social media company.Both decisions were unanimous.In a victory for the nation’s broadcasters, the justices overturned a lower court ruling that blocked the FCC from carrying out a Trump administration effort to repeal some media cross-ownership rules. The industry argued that consolidation would help it remain competitive as audiences increasingly move to online sources.The court’s opinion, written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, said the limits on cross ownership were adopted at a time when media sources were more limited.”The FCC considered the record evidence on competition, localism, viewpoint diversity, and minority and female ownership, and reasonably concluded that the three ownership rules no longer serve the public interest,” he wrote.Kavanaugh said the FCC found that “the historical justifications for those ownership rules no longer apply in today’s media market, and that permitting efficient combinations among radio stations,…
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