Politics: Telecommunications reform poses the risk of an economic and political step backward

MEXICO - Report 05 May 2025 by Guillermo Valdés and Francisco González

A new telecommunications bill has sparked an uproar over the issue of censorship and freedom of expression in relation to the media. The proposed legislation replaces the Telecommunications Law approved in 2013 during Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration. While many of Peña Nieto’s policies have since been widely criticized, his telecommunications law is viewed by many as having withstood the test of time. Among its major clauses were autonomy and independence for the new Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) and an improvement in competitive conditions in the sector.

As part of the Fourth Transformation’s policy, President Claudia Sheinbaum and Morena legislators had planned to eliminate the IFT and replace it with the Digital Transformation Agency. This is partially in response to the 4T’s obsession with Republican Austerity and trimming the budget, but it also responds to its line of codifying a renewed role of the State in the country’s economy and social policies. But the panorama and terms of the debate changed radically when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security paid to have commercials aired on TV attacking Mexican migrants and publicizing Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Predictably, no one came out in support of the message, but Sheinbaum, Morena and its allied parties pounced on the incident to raise the banner of the defense of Mexican immigrants and national sovereignty. In the process, the new bill raised major concerns beyond the issue of paid foreign government advertising. It posed the specter of censorship of the communications and social media, an increased role of the State in regulating telecommunications based on political criteria, and privileges for the dominant companies in the sector.

Sheinbaum vigorously denied any intention to introduce censorship and said the new law would be reviewed, and if necessary, modified to avoid any ambiguities in this regard. Approval of the bill is now schedule for June. Nevertheless, the underlying issue of the increased role of the State in regulating and influencing the media is far from resolved.

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