FCC chair Ajit Pai has some advice for legislators preparing for a Sept. 5 hearing with some of the edge's biggest players, including Amazon and Twitter: Get some answers on allegations of social media sites censoring conservative speech, and seriously consider applying transparency rules about how they conduct their business similar to those the FCC has imposed on ISPs.

Related: Pai Says Twitter is Bigger Threat to Open Net Than ISPs

That came in a blog post from the chairman on the eve of that hearing in the Senate Intelligence Committee on Foreign Influence Operations' Use of Social Media Platforms.

Related: Google's Page Only 'Maybe' for Senate Hearing

The chairman said he was not calling for the kind of utility-style regulations that his FCC has just removed from ISPs, especially since he said those companies can make "certain business judgments about content on their sites."

But he did say that "we need to seriously think about whether the time has come for these companies to abide by new transparency obligations. After all, just as is the case with respect to broadband providers, consumers need accurate information in order to make educated choices about whether and how to use these tech giants’ platforms."

Pai posed his comments mostly in the form of questions, but it was not hard to divine his opinion on the subject. 

"Currently, the FCC imposes strict transparency requirements on companies that operate broadband networks — how they manage their networks, performance characteristics, and the like. Yet consumers have virtually no insight into similar business practices by tech giants. Do steps need to be taken to ensure that consumers receive more information about how these companies operate?"

He pointed out that "Tech giants have enormous and unprecedented insight into every part of our daily lives," and that he has already pointed out elsewhere that “recent experience shows that so-called edge providers are in fact deciding what content [we] see. These providers routinely block or discriminate against content they don’t like.”

Pai essentially summed up his point this way: "Are these tech giants running impartial digital platforms over which they don’t exercise editorial judgment when it comes to content? Or do they in fact decide what speech is allowed and what is not and discriminate based on ideology and/or political affiliation? And...where is the transparency?"

Pai said he hoped the hearings would help answer those questions, answers that will likely determine just how regulatory Washington becomes toward edge providers previously given something of a "garage innovators" pass from such scrutiny. 

FCC chairman Ajit Pai was getting plenty of warm fuzzies from process reform fans for testing increased transparency by publishing the texts of proposals and orders before they are voted on at the agency's public meetings.

Related: Pai to Test Publishing Text of FCC Agenda Items Before Votes

"I applaud Chairman Pai for beginning the practice of making public the content of items intended to be voted on at FCC Open Meetings,” Sen. John Thune, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said. “Commissioner O'Rielly also deserves credit for long advocating for this change. After leading an investigation last year into the FCC’s manipulation of information in advance of open meetings, I believe that a more transparent FCC will be more credible and more accountable. I am pleased that the new leadership is correcting this long-recognized process flaw.”

"Chairman Pai is taking quick and decisive action to make the agency more transparent," said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Communications Subcommittee. "The American people stand to benefit from this important and long-overdue reform."

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who has long backed FCC process reform legislation, said: “Transparency should be a cornerstone of government, and the FCC is no exception to this. While the previous leadership at the FCC did not embrace this idea, I applaud FCC chairman Pai for setting an early example in his chairmanship by releasing the text of the rules before the Commission votes and appreciate Commissioner O’Rielly’s commitment to this effort.... As the leading advocate for FCC process reform in the Senate, I will continue working to codify this important transparency reform at the FCC.”

AT&T SVP Joan Marsh said: “Clear and transparent processes lead to better regulatory results. FCC Chairman Pai made clear his commitment to these goals with the voting process reform he enacted at his first Open Meeting. Today’s announcement underscores that commitment even further. The pilot program of releasing proposed rules to the public, before they are voted on by the FCC, allows for greater public engagement and ultimately better government actions.  We applaud chairman Pai’s and his fellow commissioners’ efforts to improve the agency’s transparency to produce better results.”

Randolph May, president of free market think tank The Free State Foundation also supported the move, an approach the former FCC official had recommended in a blog post Wednesday (Feb. 1).

“I certainly commend chairman Pai for starting a trial regarding the public release of draft agenda items at the time they are circulated for consideration by the commissioners," May said. "There is no reason why reform of FCC processes can’t be subject to trials in cases where there are non-frivolous concerns raised about the change in process." 

BOSTON—The quest for additional transparency in the modern measurement business will be driven, like most aspects of the TV ad industry, by the amount of money that is being directed toward it, a panel of ad experts said at an INTX Show panel Tuesday.

“The dollars will dictate how this changes,” said comScore executive vice president Cathy Hetzel at the panel session, Getting to Transparency: The Promises and Pitfalls of Modernized Media Measurement. Hetzel added that last year $3 billion of advertising spend went up for renewal and clients want transparency as to where the money is going.

Discovery Communications head of ad sales product strategy and development Keith Kazerman said making sure the data collected is accurate and reliable depends on who is delivering it and what methods are being used.

“Monetizing our investment is incumbent upon us,” Kazerman said. “We need to have a currency that is third-party verified. We should collaborate and work together, programmers distributors, measurement companies to see what standards start to evolve.”

Nielsen senior vice president client solutions Judi Allen said client collaboration is an important part of her company’s Total Audience Measurement products. And she added that clients have to look at data and measurement in general in a different way – moving to a world where shows are measured by the second and ratings periods can be days and even weeks long, requires a different mindset, even about things as simple as how views are counted.

“We want to experience all we can, but getting clients there takes time and effort,” Allen said.

Cablevision Media Sales senior vice president and general manager, advanced data analytics Paul Haddad said that accuracy and accountability also are critical to success.

“We do believe the legacy measurement system for the past six years needs to evolve, it needs to be complemented,” Haddad said, adding that taking responsibility for the lack of measurement or faulty data is just as important as accuracy.

The TV space, although under siege from digital competition, is in a unique position, Allen said, and operators and programmers should step up efforts to drive that point home to advertisers.

“The story is there about the incredible TV experience” Allen said. “There are weaknesses in the existing digital ecosystem.”

Hetzel agreed.

“This is the first year we’re going to see real cross-platform measurement,” Hetzel said. “We have our first reports where we look across unduplicated reach, the first opportunity to be able to understand how consumer are consuming TV. …Transparency is big part of that.”