New FCC commissioner Nathan Simington announced is presence, at least virtual presence, at the FCC Wednesday with the first tweet from is @SimingtonFCC twitter account.
"Good morning to all," he tweeted. "I am very happy to be online as a member of @FCC. I look forward to working with @AjitPaiFCC, @BrendanCarrFCC, @GeoffreyStarks, @JRosenworcel, and the incredible FCC staff to oversee and advance telecommunications in the public interest."
He and Pai will only be working together for the next five weeks since Pai is exiting his post Jan. 20 when President-elect Joe Biden takes over and, almost certainly, will name Jessica Rosenworcel acting chair, if no chair.
Simington's first tweet drew a host of welcoming responses, including from Pai, who tweeted: Welcome to the @FCC, Commissioner @SimingtonFCC! Look forward to working with you as well."
"I trust you will find this website to be a warm place full of kind, reasoned, and nuanced debate. Good luck!," tweeted fellow commissioner Brendan Carr, tongue firmly in cheek, of the Twitter site. Like President Trump, Carr has called out Twitter and other social media sites for what they say is their anti-conservative bias, an alleged bias they argue is in need of regulating via changes to Sec. 230, if not eliminating it altogether.
Also Read: Trump Says Sec. 230 Is Election Security Threat
Simington worked on the Trump Administration petition to the FCC seeking to prevent that section, which provides social media sites immunity from civil liability over their third party content moderation, from being uses as a shield for suppressing conservative speech. But the newest commission says his was more a proofing than policy contribution, though he did reach out to Fox News while at NTIA to try to draw attention to the issue.
