FCC Chair Says 'Russian Email Addresses' Submitted Public Net Neutrality Comments
Source: Talking Points Memo
By Matt Shuham
December 5, 2018 11:44 am
Though the Federal Communications Commission on Monday denied reporters’ requests for records relating to millions of public comments submitted last year about net neutrality, Chairman Ajit Pai made a surprising claim in justifying his decision: The Russians did it.
The New York Times’ Nicholas Confessore and BuzzFeed News’ Jeremy Singer-Vine have long sought information about the public comments the FCC received about net neutrality, seeking evidence of foreign interference, after the FCC voted to do away with net neutrality late last year.
Near the end of his statement justifying not releasing the comment data, Pai referred to a dissenting Democratic colleague on the commission, Jessica Rosenworcel, and noted “the fact that the half-million comments submitted from Russian e-mail addresses and the nearly eight million comments filed by e-mail addresses from e-mail domains associated with FakeMailGenerator.com supported her position on the issue!”
Gizmodo first noted Pai’s claim on Tuesday, reporting that the study the chairman cited was funded by the telecom industry. Rosenworcel, who dissented from the decision not to release the records, cited the same study in a Washington Post op-ed in March, “Russians are hacking our public-commenting system, too.”
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/fcc-chair-says-russian-email-addresses-submitted-public-net-neutrality-comments
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