Congress makes the law, and passes details to a regulatory agency.
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Thanx. That’s what I didn’t know: if it needed legislation.
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FCC regulates telecom, because telecom is viewed as a monopoly. Consumers generally have only one company hanging phone lines.
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In my area, there are several companies, one huge, a couple tiny. I live in a spot served only by the monster (Frontier), which has horrid bandwidth, is not helpful and over charges. One of the tiny ones has extended service in a pattern that leaves us in a hole. A couple of weeks ago, the upstart asked us to send a letter in support of their extension (we have a small home business) because they are applying for a grant to increase the extension (I’m tech-deficient and not clear on whether this is actual lines or a cell tower). We have our fingers crossed. As it stands, we need to travel 15 miles to a library served also by Frontier, but with moderately better upload/download times. Configuring new computers/software or getting updates is a nightmare.
I believe FCC is paying attention to rural service.
I don't know if pulling Google and FB and other social media into the sphere of federal regulation requires legislation, or if the regulatory agency can either "rulemake" or "rule interpret" them in.
There is considerable complexity too. The issues include pricing, transparency, and tend to avoid the issue of content. The players include the regulator, the legislator, and the court.
The news monopoly isn't regulated for content, by way of example, other than some fairly weak "equal time" when it comes to political campaigns.
To your fundamental question, there is no way to know if some sort of content regulation requires legislation, or if the legislation would survive court challenge. Typically, those questions are answered by "doing it," and seeing where the chips eventually fall. No matter how the change is implemented (by regulation first, or by legislation first), the rule and the statute will be challenged in court. Meanwhile, some people spend their time analyzing hypothetical futures considering what they know about the legal and procedural frameworks.