AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile could avoid $200 million in fines thanks to FCC deadlock

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, mobile carriers could avoid paying $200 million in privacy fines because of the FCC's partisan split. According to sources familiar with the situation, the FCC needs one more vote to approve the fines, and both Republicans haven't voted yet.

The Senate has yet to vote on her nomination, despite the fact that she could potentially give the tie-breaking vote to fine the companies. AT&T, T-Mobile, andVerizon may be able to avoid paying the FCC's penalty until that happens. They are still facing a probe into whether they are telling the truth when sharing location data.

The FCC is planning to fine AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint $200 million in 2020 after a report from Motherboard sparked concern over how carriers are handling customers' data. According to the report, telecommunications companies were selling users' real-time locations to third-party distributors, which could lead to bounty hunters.

AT&T said there can be real, and potentially life-saving, benefits to using user data in emergencies. The companies were accused of violating federal law and the FCC proposed a $200 million fine. The three Republican Commissioners approved the penalty, while the two Democrats were concerned about the amount of time it took for the FCC to act.