Public Knowledge

Today, Judge Leonie Brinkema issued her remedies order in the Google ad-tech antitrust case, rejecting structural remedies while imposing behavioral requirements on Google. The full decision remains under seal. The decision follows an antitrust lawsuit filed against Google in 2023 by the U.S. Department of Justice and several states.

For several years, Meta has faced a massive multidistrict litigation (MDL) combining thousands of lawsuits in nearly every U.S. state and territory, alleging that the social media company designed its platforms to be addictive and harmful to minor users. State attorneys general in the MDL reached a nearly $17 billion settlement on August 26, 2026 – a far cry from the $200 billion the attorneys general were asking for.

For four and a half days in July, an internal, frontier OpenAI model escaped a sandboxed cybersecurity evaluation and ran an autonomous intrusion campaign against Hugging Face, a company that hosts AI datasets and models. The rogue model’s aim wasn’t corporate sabotage: It was trying to steal the answer key for a cybersecurity test that OpenAI researchers were asking the model to complete.

Today, The Future of Universal Service Reform Task Force, co-chaired by Mignon Clyburn and Rachelle Chong, released a comprehensive policy framework, “Moving Toward Opportunity for All: The Future of Universal Service Reform,” addressing the long-term structural, legal, and financial sustainability of the $8+ billion Universal Service Fund, or USF.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission voted to approve a Report and Order that would repeal the national television ownership cap preventing a single entity from owning TV stations that have a combined audience reach of more than 39% of U.S. households. This action replaces the 39% cap with a vague, agency-controlled ‘case-by-case’ review, decimating competition in the broadcast media market and setting the nation up for runaway media consolidation. Congress created the 39% cap rule.

Today, Public Knowledge filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in the landmark search case of U.S. v. Google. The U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general had filed lawsuits in 2020, challenging Google’s agreements for default search placement on browsers and devices.

A coalition of labor unions, media advocates, and public interest organizations filed a brief urging the Federal Communications Commission to end its unprecedented early license-renewal proceeding targeting Disney-owned ABC television stations.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission released a Report and Order, adopted yesterday, that weakens key transparency and accountability requirements for broadband providers’ consumer labels. Broadband labels are designed to help consumers compare plans and understand what they will actually pay for broadband service.

Today, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the “Youth AI Privacy Act” to protect minor users of artificial intelligence chatbots. The bill would limit how chatbots use children’s data and safeguard against manipulative design features – all without enacting invasive age verification systems or content restrictions that restrict free speech.

Today, Reps. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) and Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) introduced the “Online Sellers’ Bill of Rights Act” to protect online sellers from having their goods or funds improperly detained by platforms. While online e-commerce platforms have increased their efforts to root out counterfeit goods, they have yet to invest in the tools needed to investigate sellers suspected of violating their terms of service.