FCC chairman Ajit Pai was due to to appear at the upcoming CES but has canceled after receiving death threats, Recode reported. Agency sources said the threats intensified after the the FCC voted to overturn net neutrality rules voted in in 2015. A spokesperson for Pai did not comment on the nature of the threat but sources said that federal law enforcement had intervened in the matter.
The FBI did not immediately comment on the matter. A spokesperson for the Consumer Technology Association, which puts on the annual Las Vegas-based trade show, also declined to comment. However, CTA head Gary Shapiro earlier told Digital Trends that he did not know why Pai had canceled, but raised the fact that he had recently been “subject to vicious and direct attacks and threats.”
For now, Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Republican Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Brendan Carr each plan to attend CES. So will Maureen Ohlhausen, the acting leader of the the Federal Trade Commission. Ohlhausen had been slated to appear alongside Pai at the annual Vegas event.
