FTC Act Section 13(b) doesn’t authorize the agency to “seek, or a court to award, equitable monetary relief such as restitution or disgorgement,” the Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday in AMG Capital Management v. FTC (19-508). The agency can seek restitution for consumers under sections 5 and 19, said the opinion delivered by Justice Stephen Breyer. “If the Commission believes that authority too cumbersome or otherwise inadequate, it is, of course, free to ask Congress to grant it further remedial authority,” the court wrote.

The FCC will hold a news briefing with bureau staff after Thursday’s commissioners' meeting, agency spokespeople told us Tuesday. This will be the first such briefing in over a year, since February 2020.

The Supreme Court sided with Facebook in a case that could narrow the number of lawsuits filed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The court reversed and remanded an earlier decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had found that any device that stores and automatically dials phone numbers can be considered an automatic telephone dialing system under the TCPA. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for a united high court in the long-awaited decision in Facebook v. Duguid.

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of the FCC in the agency’s appeal of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Prometheus broadcast ownership case. “The FCC’s decision to repeal or modify the three ownership rule was not arbitrary and capricious for purposes” of the Administrative Procedure Act, said Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the majority opinion. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion. “In light of the sparse record on minority and female ownership and the FCC’s findings with respect to competition, localism, and viewpoint diversity, the Court cannot say that the agency’s decision to repeal or modify the ownership rules fell outside the zone of reasonableness for purposes of the APA,” wrote Kavanaugh. The decision reverses the ruling of the 3rd Circuit, which had reinstated the newspaper/broadcast ownership rule, the eight-voices test and other broadcast ownership limitations. The FCC didn’t immediately comment.

Many telecom and ISPs say they want to participate in the FCC emergency broadband benefit programs, the agency announced Thursday. Among those are AT&T's BellSouth Communications (which AT&T confirms to us is the same as that company), Cable One, Comcast, Consolidated Telephone and Windstream.

The FCC is mulling a requirement that the 988 national suicide prevention hotline be reachable by text. The agency said a Further NPRM on the April 22 agenda would propose requiring text providers to implement texting to 988.

Frontier Communications got its final regulatory OK to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The California Public Utilities Commission voted 5-0 at its Thursday virtual meeting to clear the proposed reorganization with conditions.

President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act COVID-19 budget reconciliation package (HR-1319) Thursday, a day earlier than expected. Biden’s signoff formally allocates some $7-plus billion for emergency E-rate remote learning, along with additional amounts for state-level broadband projects and emergency CPB funding.

Virginia looks set to become the second state, after California, with a comprehensive privacy law. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed the Consumer Data Protection Act into law, the legislature's website showed Tuesday evening. The action was widely expected but the governor's office hadn't commented on whether he would give his OK. The bill is SB-1392.

FCC members approved an emergency broadband benefit program order 4-0 earlier Thursday, the agency announced tonight. In their statements about the item, commissioners revealed some of the document's details.