America’s culture wars are not usually waged at the Federal Communications Commission.
With rare exceptions — like net neutrality — the New Deal-era agency stays out of the headlines, focusing on issues like rural broadband access and stopping spam calls.
But that will change in January, when Brendan Carr becomes chairman of the agency under President Trump. Observers expect him to use the FCC as a platform to bash the media and technology to silence conservative views.
“You will see Carr amplifying Trump’s complaints in the media,” said Tim Hanlon, CEO of the Vertere Group, a consulting firm. “He will be a loud mouthpiece.”
The FCC has five commissioners, with the president’s party typically having a three-member majority. Carr is expected to pursue a standard Republican deregulation agenda, including a repeal of net neutrality rules and the loosening of caps on TV station ownership.
But in the days since his nomination on Sunday, he has also shown he won’t be afraid to mix it up with higher profile controversies. One of his top priorities is dismantling the agency’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, which has been a key issue for Jessica Rosenworcel, the chair under President Biden.
In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Carr also said he will try to shake up the “status quo” in broadcast news.
During the presidential campaign, Trump and his allies ignited a firestorm over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, claiming her answers were distorted. When asked about it in October, Carr called on CBS to release a full transcript but suggested the FCC had limited ability to address such complaints.
“I don’t think this should be a federal case,” Carr told Glenn Beck, noting that the “news distortion” rule is limited and that only “one case in a million” has any legitimacy.
“We don’t want to be in the business of authenticating news or being a Ministry of Truth,” Carr said.
But on Tuesday, he told Fox News that the FCC would likely review the “60 Minutes” complaint while considering whether to approve the merger of Skydance and Paramount Global, CBS’ parent company.
“Carr’s bark will be worse than his bite,” Hanlon said, arguing that his role in such disputes will be to “add some perceived credibility to the FCC, even though legally the FCC may not have a mandate or legal means to do something. about it.”
The FCC controls the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a $20 billion plan to bring high-speed internet access to rural areas. In December 2020, Elon Musk’s SpaceX submitted a winning $885 million bid through the program, but the FCC later rejected the company, saying it had not demonstrated it could deliver.
Carr has argued that the decision was a politically motivated “lawsuit” against a prominent Trump supporter. He was expected to be on hand Tuesday for a SpaceX rocket launch, which Trump also reportedly planned to attend.
Carr has also shown an eagerness to expand the FCC’s traditional authority to address “censorship” on technology platforms. Carr wrote the Chapter “Project 2025” about the FCCand has said the agency could play a role in regulating how tech platforms moderate content.
Conservatives claim that sites like Facebook and YouTube systematically suppress their views and demonetize their content. Florida and Texas have both passed laws regulating content moderation, although courts have prevented them from taking effect. In Moody vs. Netchoice in July, the Supreme Court ruled that such laws were likely to violate the platforms’ freedom of expression.
Carr has argued that the FCC should reinterpret Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to limit immunity for technology platforms. Adam Kovacevich, the CEO of the center-left advocacy group Chamber of Progress, said Carr is trying to undermine legal protections that “prevent the Internet from becoming a cesspool.”
“When people tell you what they are planning to do, you should believe them,” Kovacevich said in a statement. “Brendan Carr has clearly stated his intention to attack Section 230 and force online platforms to carry sludge.”
Even those who want to see more internet regulation question whether the FCC has that power.
“The agency has no authority over technology platforms and websites,” said Chris Lewis, CEO of Public Knowledge, a consumer group that has urged Congress to pass a slew of digital regulations. Lewis said claiming that such control already exists “would be radical, and far outside the norm.”
During the campaign, Trump threatened to revoke broadcast licenses for CBS and ABC in retaliation for news decisions. Carr, a career telecommunications lawyer, didn’t go that far. He immediately and strongly objected to Harris’ appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” a few days before the election, which he said was a “blatant attempt to circumvent the FCC’s Equal Time Rule.” NBC gave the Trump campaign the same amount of time the next day.
The National Association of Broadcasters, which represents station owners, congratulated Carr on his nomination on Sunday, calling him “a steadfast leader in holding Big Tech accountable” and saying it looks forward to working with him to “remove regulatory barriers that hinder investments in local networks”. newsrooms broadcast.”