• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, November 21, 2024

Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who has helmed the agency since 2021, said Thursday that she plans to depart the agency on January 20, when president-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Under Rosenworcel's leadership, the FCC moved forward with several high-profile initiatives championed by consumer advocacy groups. Among other moves, the agency voted 3-2 to restore the Obama-era open internet rules, which prohibit carriers from blocking or throttling traffic and from charging higher fees for prioritized delivery. The agency also voted along partisan lines to broadband as 100 Mbps, tighten data breach notification rules, and fine three major wireless carriers around $200 million for sharing consumers' location data.

The broadband industry opposed those decisions and is currently challenging the net neutrality rules in court. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are also separately challenging the privacy fines imposed by the agency.

Rosenworcel, nominated to the FCC in 2011 by former president Barack Obama, previously opposed a proposal by Trump that the agency police content moderation by social media companies. Trump made that proposal via an executive order in 2020, during his first presidency.

 “An Executive Order that would turn the FCC into the President's speech police is not the answer. It's time for those in Washington to speak up for the First Amendment,” Rosenworcel said in a May 2020 post on X, formerly Twitter.

Commissioner Brendan Carr, Trump's choice to head the agency, supports efforts to curb social media companies' ability to exert editorial control over posts on their platforms.

Carr also opposed the FCC's recent orders restoring the net neutrality rules, redefining broadband as 100 Mbps, tightening data breach rules and fining carriers over alleged privacy violations.