FCC chairman to step down when Biden is inaugurated

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced Monday he will step down from his post when President-elect Joe Biden steps into office.

President Donald Trump appointed Pai to lead the agency in January 2017. He had been chosen President Barack Obama as an FCC commissioner and was confirmed by the Senate in 2012.

The Republican chairman's resignation was expected since politically appointed heads of agencies typically step down amid turnover in presidential administrations. In this case, it allows the agency to reach a Democratic majority sooner since Pai's term was to expire in June.

"I am grateful to President Trump for giving me the opportunity to lead the agency in 2017, to President Obama for appointing me as commissioner in 2012, and to Senate Majority Leader McConnell and the Senate for twice confirming me," Pai said in a statement.

Pai is a son of Indian immigrants, who grew up in Parson, Kan., and lives in Arlington, Va.

"To be the first Asian-American to chair the FCC has been a particular privilege. As I often say: only in America," he added in his statement.

With the FCC shift to a Democratic majority, net neutrality, which was ushered in by former President Barack Obama's administration to bar Internet service providers from slowing or throttling speeds and offering "fast lanes" for large companies at higher prices, is expected to be reinstated.

In December 2017, Pai voted with fellow Republican commissioners to repeal net neutrality. The controversial repeal became effective in June 2018, and during that same month a California man, Makara Man, was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Pai's family over the net neutrality repeal.

More recently, Pai planned to move forward with rulemaking around Trump's executive order directing the FCC to set new rules on Section 230's protections for social platforms decisions about content moderations following Trump's concerns about Facebook and Twitter moderation of his tweets.

Both social media platforms have moderated posts from the president with COVID-19 misinformation, including Twitter hiding a post behind a warning label and Facebook removing it altogether.

Two Democratic commissioners opposed Pai's decision on Section 230.