Gigi Sohn, President Joe Biden’s progressive nominee for the FCC, will likely face intense scrutiny over her seemingly endless controversial statements as she hopes to get confirmed to the nation’s leading technology agency.
Biden renominated Sohn in early January after Senate Democrats failed to secure a majority to confirm her as a commissioner due to her far-left sympathies and controversial statements. If Sohn were confirmed to the FCC, it would give the agency a Democrat majority, which could allow them to pursue net neutrality regulations and other leftist priorities.
Most recently, Breitbart News senior technology correspondent Allum Bokhari reported how Sohn was appointed to the board of the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) in 2018, two years before the group gave its “pioneer award” to a dominatrix named Mistress Blunt.
Sohn has called Fox News “state-sponsored propaganda” that is “dangerous to democracy” and called on the FCC to investigate if Sinclair Broadcast Group, a conservative-run network of local TV stations, should have a broadcast license.
Sohn was the cofounder and CEO of the leftist advocacy group Public Knowledge, which called on cable and satellite providers to cancel One America News Network.
Bokhari documented the other issues she may face during a confirmation hearing:
Sohn was also co-founder and CEO of the leftist nonprofit Public Knowledge, which in 2021 called on cable and satellite providers to drop the conservative One America News Network (OAN). Following pressure from Public Knowledge and Democrat members of Congress who oversee the FCC, cable providers Verizon and AT&T did exactly that, removing access to two top conservative TV channels for millions of Americans.
Sohn also praised the far-left advocacy organization Color of Change, which called policing “a violent institution that must end” and stated that “more police in black neighborhoods, actually harms black people.”
Sohn was also guest of honor at an event hosted by another leftist nonprofit, Movement Labs, which boasted about her ability to censor conservative media if confirmed to the FCC.
“Who is this pinnacle of trust-busting that has earned the ire of evil? Gigi Sohn, founder of Public Knowledge and nominee to the FCC, where she would fill out a 3-2 progressive majority capable of breaking up Sinclair’s right-wing propaganda machine,” said Movement Labs in a release promoting the event.
In October 2020, Sohn claimed that Facebook and Twitter “ don’t have a censorship problem, they have a transparency, consistency & standards & practices problem. Their decisions 2 remove or not remove content are opaque, ad hoc & arbitrary. Which upsets people on both sides. #section230.”
Internal Twitter emails have revealed that intelligence agencies as well as congressional Democrat staffers were involved in requests to censor free speech on Twitter.
Sohn also said in October 2020, “In addition to partisan differences over the purpose of this #Section230 hearing, it’s clear that Rs are more concerned about what is being taken down (conservative speech), Ds are more concerned about what is NOT being taken down (misinfo, false electoral info, hate speech).”
Sohn wrote in October 2020 in response to an article about a court case about curbside voting, “This is an outrage. Republicans know that the only way they can win is to suppress the vote.”
Sohn wrote in response to Ibram X Kendi joining the faculty at Boston University, “My undergraduate alma mater has been far from perfect in its response to the current moment, but this is fantastic.”
Kendi helped push critical race theory (CRT), an anti-white ideology, through his book, “How to be an Antiracist,” which became a bestseller.
Kendi’s book held that antiracists “dismantle” racist “systems” by going after any concept, law, or establishment which correlates with unequal aggregate outcomes.
Although Senate Democrats did increase their majority to 51, giving them more leeway to shepherd Sohn’s nomination through the Senate, there remain hurdles to confirming the controversial FCC nominee.
Multiple reports have found that Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Catherine Cortez (D-NV), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) remain uncertain as to whether they plan to vote to confirm Sohn. The Verge reported that Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and John Fetterman’s (D-PA) elections could bolster her nomination.
Masto said in December that she has had concerns about Sohn’s prior comments about “defunding the police.” The Fraternal Order of Police objected to her nomination.
Breitbart News reported in March 2022:
Sohn retweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NM), who wrote in November in 2020, “When It Comes To “Defund” & “Socialism” Attacks, People Need to Realize These are Racial Resentment Attacks. You’re Not Gonna Make That Go Away. You Can Make it Less Effective.”
Sohn retweeted a user who described federal law enforcement protecting federal property in Portland, Oregon, in July 2020 as “armed goons in riot gear with tear gas.”
The FCC nominee also liked a tweet calling to end “qualified immunity,” which would remove the legal protection for officers in the line of duty.
Senate Republicans have raised questions about how a coalition of broadcasters mysteriously agreed to reduce a $32 million settlement in a copyright dispute with Locast, to $700,000, a day after Biden nominated Sohn to the FCC. Sohn was on the board of Locast prior to her nomination.
During one confirmation hearing in February 2022, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) lambasted Sohn for calling Republicans “white supremacists:”
C-SPANI don’t see how you can be unbiased. Fox News is state-sponsored media… propaganda… Republicans know the only way they can win is to suppress the vote.’ These are yours. Here’s a retweet: ‘your raggedy white supremacist president and his cowardly enablers would rather kill everybody than stop killing black people.’ Damn. That’s way out. I mean, do you think most Republicans are racists and white supremacists?
Sohn apologized during the February 2022 hearing for her “tone” and said that her far-left opinions would not impact her opinions should she get confirmed to serve at the FCC.
Video footage and photos obtained by Bokhari show Sohn attending a “net neutrality” rally with leftists in 2012, which was an attempt to pressure her former boss, then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler:
The Senate Commerce Committee will likely hold a confirmation hearing on Sohn’s qualifications or lack thereof for the FCC.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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