Gigi Beth Sohn[1] (born August 2, 1961) is an American lawyer who is the co-founder (with Laurie Racine[2] and David Bollier) of Public Knowledge.

From 2018 to 2021, Sohn sat on the board of Sports Fan Coalition, doing business as Locast, an app that captured and retransmitted local broadcast signals over the internet pursuant to an exemption in the copyright law for nonprofits.

[13][14] While supported by Senate Democrats, Sohn's nomination was opposed by Republicans, alleging that she would censor conservative speech, and claiming her past involvement in Locast was a conflict of interest.

[15][16][17][18] The Wall Street Journal editorial board additionally criticized her opposition to the acquisition of Tribune Media by Sinclair Broadcast Group.

[15] Sohn faced intense lobbying and astroturfing efforts from the telecom industry,[19][20] including groups with reported ties such as the League of United Latin American Citizens,[16]Heidi Heitkamp's Democratic PAC One Country Project (which cited inconsistent commitments to rural broadband, and was alleged to have been paid by Comcast in an attempt to flip moderate Democrats),[21][20][18] and the Fraternal Order of Police (which criticized her support of police reform).

[25][26] Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell described the lobbying campaigns against Sohn as being a "proxy fight for net neutrality", while veteran television executive Preston Padden (who worked with Sohn and Rupert Murdoch on regulatory matters for Fox) warned that she was ”in danger of falling victim to the worst, and most cynical and baseless smear campaign ever waged against a nominee to serve on the FCC.

"[27] Consumer Technology Association (CTA) president Gary J. Shapiro suspected that the deadlock was the result of homophobia, as Sohn would have been the first FCC commissioner to be openly gay.