FCC Investigating Russian Ownership of U.S. Telecom

Jessica Rosenworcel at FCC confirmation hearing
(Image credit: U.S. Senate)

FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel has told Congress that the FCC has begun an "internal assessment" of Russian ownership of U.S. telecommunications interests.

That came in written testimony for Thursday's FCC oversight hearing in the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

She said that was just one of the actions the FCC had taken in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

She also noted that the FCC is requiring new on-air disclosures of foreign-backed broadcasts, though ramping up that effort pre-dates the invasion by quite a bit and was tied to concerns about state-sponsored disinformation campaigns like those that could have impacted U.S. elections.

She also pointed out that the FCC had joined the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Shields Up program to heighten cybersecurity awareness and response in the increased threat of malicious cyber activity stemming from the Russian sanctions. ■

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.