In spite of increasing restrictions on freedom of speech in the United States, the country is still better off than China, a member of the Federal Communications Commission suggested over the weekend.
“We have had policies that are certainly questionable and I disagree with them, but China is in a whole different league in terms of its behavior and in terms of what it does in censoring its citizens, harming its citizens,” FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told the Washington Examiner.
“But,” he added, “I do think that we are moving in the wrong direction, and I am trying to fight those policies, and hopefully we’ll have success in going forward.”
When asked whether Donald Trump as president would reverse the trend toward increasing speech restrictions, O’Rielly seemed to think so.
“In practice and in general, Republicans have had a better track record on protecting the freedom of individuals and their ability to express their rights and take advantage of their liberty,” O’Rielly said.
“I think generally that has been the case, but each chairman is different. The president would pick a new [FCC] chairman, and we’d have to see what direction that would go,” he said.
However, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, a Democrat, threw that prospect into question in testimony before a congressional panel last week, telling members that he wasn’t quite sure he would be ready to resign next year. Traditionally, the chairman steps down when a new president is elected, clearing the way for a successor.
“I understand precedent,” Wheeler said at the time. “I understand expectations. I also understand that 10 or 11 months is a long time. So it’s probably not the wisest thing in the world to do to make some kind of ironclad commitment.”
Yet O’Rielly dismissed Wheeler’s speculation, saying it was premature to worry.
“I think he was, in fairness, probably didn’t want to make himself a lame duck, and was [avoiding] suggesting people ignore him for 10 months. I do think that if he was being earnest that he might stay on, I think that’s problematic for how the commission may move forward.
“I think he’s acknowledged that at some point, he is ready to move on. … I don’t think he’s anticipating staying on much longer,” O’Rielly said.
O’Rielly is one of two Republican commissioners on the five-member FCC. He spoke on a panel at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference held in National Harbor, Maryland, last week about freedom on the Internet, and attempts by his agency to regulate it. The topic has been hotly debated over the past year.
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His Republican colleague, Commissioner Ajit Pai, voiced concern last month that the FCC’s efforts to regulate the Internet were part of a larger attack on free speech in the country, while Wheeler conversely suggested last year that the FCC should view itself as a “referee with a yardstick” when it came to regulating the Web.
