Overnight Tech: FCC disputes reporter’s account of ‘manhandling’ incident | Verizon to cut 2K jobs at Yahoo | Russians used spyware on Instagram | Virginia moves on 5G networks

FCC DISPUTES REPORTER’S ACCOUNT OF BEING ‘MANHANDLED’: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is disputing a reporter’s claim that he was “manhandled” by security personnel outside of an open hearing in May.

John Donnelly, a reporter for CQ Roll Call, said after the incident on May 18 that security officers pinned him against a wall in the hallway when he tried to ask Commissioner Michael O’Rielly a question as he walked by.

In letters to Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) dated July 2, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said his security personnel had a different story.

In their account, one guard saw Donnelly trying to enter restricted areas and asked him to return to the public section of the building. Donnelly responded by saying that he was looking for a bathroom, and the guard pointed one out and then waited outside of it to make sure that the reporter “did not attempt either intentionally or unintentionally to go into a restricted area of the building when he exited.”

Later, when Donnelly tried to ask a question of O’Rielly in the hallway, one security guard explained that the commissioner did not want to take any more questions following his press conference. And when Donnelly approached O’Rielly, another guard inadvertently backed into the reporter.

Pai said that the two security officers denied that Donnelly was pinned against the wall, and that five other witnesses were unable to corroborate his account.

“In sum, the incident with Mr. Donnelly should not have happened,” Pai wrote.

“The FCC has publicly apologized to Mr. Donnelly, and has counseled the Commission’s security staff. Furthermore, we have instructed security officers that the Commission will not physically engage anyone that comes to a Commission open meeting, unless they are purposefully disrupting the meeting or they pose a threat to the safety of FCC employees.”

Read more here.

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VENTURE CAPITAL PUSHES WHITE HOUSE ON ENTREPRENEUR RULE: Entrepreneurs, investors and civic leaders are pushing the White House to not block a rule that would allow entrepreneurs from other countries to come to the U.S. more easily. Seventy-eight groups representing startup founders, investors, economic development organizations and civic leaders sent a letter in May to the White House urging the administration to not roll back the International Entrepreneur Rule before it goes into effect on July 17. The letter is set to be released on Friday.

The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), a D.C. trade association representing venture capital and entrepreneurial interests, which organized but did not sign the letter, also met with administration officials on Thursday to advocate for the rule.

Read more here.

AIRBNB BACKS U.S. RELATIONS WITH CUBA: Airbnb on Thursday voiced its support for increasing engagement with Cuba.

“We support your efforts in maintaining the opening that has been made with Cuba and your efforts in opposing further restrictions,” the company wrote in a letter addressed to Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and other Cuba working group members along with White House administration officials including national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

The letter comes as President Trump is reportedly mulling a reversal of the Obama administration’s decision to bolster the U.S.-Cuba relationship.

Read more here.

VERIZON WILL CUT 2K YAHOO JOBS: Telecom giant Verizon will reportedly announce plans next week to cut as many as 2,100 jobs at their AOL and Yahoo subsidiaries.

The cuts will come after Verizon, which owns AOL, completes a merger with Yahoo. Re/Code reported Wednesday that 1,000 jobs would be cut as a result of the merger, but TechCrunch and Reuters reported Thursday that the number will be almost double.

Search engine and news service Yahoo agreed to merge with Verizon in February. Verizon dropped its initial valuation of the company by $350 million after Yahoo suffered massive data breaches. More than 1.5 billion user accounts were compromised in record-breaking hacks.

Read more here.

VIRGINIA MOVES ON 5G INFRASTRUCTURE: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) signed measures into law that will beef up the state’s infrastructure to support forthcoming 5G wireless networks. The new networks will require 10 to 100 times the amount of antennas. Florida, Texas, Minnesota, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana and Iowa have passed similar laws this year. 

The wireless industry cheered the move.

“CTIA and the wireless industry commend Governor Terry McAuliffe and the Virginia General Assembly in supporting 5G wireless legislation that will boost business opportunity and enhance consumers’ lives,” said Meredith Attwell Baker, president and CEO of the wireless trade association CTIA. “This bill will deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in wireless-related investment and new job creation, and lead to further innovation across Virginia’s economy.”

RUSSIANS USED SPYWARE ON INSTAGRAM: Hackers associated with the Russian government used Instagram to control malware used in attacks, according to a new report.

Researchers at ESET found that Turla, a well-known group believed to be affiliated with Russian intelligence, designed a malicious extension for the Firefox web browser to allow malware on a victim’s computer to communicate with the hackers over the photo-sharing social network.

The extension would scour the comments of a designated photograph for specially crafted messages that contained a web address used to communicate with the home base.

In the sample analyzed by ESET, the photo belonged to Britney Spears’s account.

Read more here.

ON TAP:

The Federalist Society holds a panel on antitrust policy at noon.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai discusses rolling back net neutrality with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on the senator’s podcast

The New York Times looks at Facebook’s possible role in European elections