He is “a Free Speech Warrior,” Donald Trump said on Sunday. in a press release announcing the appointment of Brendan Carr, 45, to head the US telecoms regulator, the FCC. A former lawyer, Brendan Carr had already been one of the commissioners for seven years. If he wants to take on the tech giants, he is also supported by Elon Musk.
Brendan Carr immediately reacted on expression of the Americans,” he wrote. As the American daily reminds us, however, New York TimesCongress manages the FCC’s budget, and “new legislation would likely be needed to extend the agency’s regulatory oversight to companies like Google and Meta, which are not defined as communications services.” , according to legal experts cited by the daily.
Slayer of the “censorship cartel”
Brendan Carr has worked at the FCC since 2012, and has been one of its commissioners since 2017, appointed to the position by Donald Trump during his first term. As the Associated Press news agency recalls, he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated “by both Donald Trump and President Joe Biden”. A law graduate from Catholic University in Washington, he previously worked as a lawyer specializing in regulatory matters.
“Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft and others played a central role in the censorship cartel,” he declared two days before his appointment, also on Friday on the X network. “The Orwellian organization called NewsGuard, along with ‘fact-checking’ groups and advertising agencies, have helped enforce one-sided narratives. The censorship cartel must be dismantled,” he added.
For Donald Trump, Brendan Carr “will end the regulatory assault that has paralyzed American job creators and innovators.” He “will ensure that the FCC meets the expectations of rural America,” the president-elect further assured in his press release.
“Broadcast media have the privilege of using a rare and valuable public resource: our airwaves. In return, they are required by law to act in the public interest. Once the transition is complete, the FCC will enforce this obligation of public interest”, declared Brendan Carr this Monday, November 18 on X. He also already declared that the FCC would end its promotion of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) “from year next”.
Defender of Starlink, Elon Musk’s project
Internet access in rural areas is the subject that earned Brendan Carr the support of Elon Musk, appointed by Donald Trump to head a commission for “governmental efficiency”. In 2022, in fact, the FCC revoked a subsidy of $885 million which had been granted at the end of 2020 to Starlink, a satellite internet service provider, and one of Elon Musk’s companies. This funding was supposed to bring high-speed internet to rural homes and businesses, but Starlink and the other company benefiting from these funds “failed to demonstrate that the providers were capable of providing the service promised” , the FCC had indicated. Brendan Carr then spoke out against this decision.
On October 14, while the electoral campaign was in full swing, he mentioned this decision in an article published in the Wall Street Journal : “in my opinion, this is nothing other than a regulatory retaliatory measure against one of the main targets of the left: Elon Musk”.
Author of a chapter of “Project 2025”
Brendan Carr is also the author of the telecoms chapter of “Project 2025”, a nearly 900-page document developed by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, and road map for the overhaul of the federal state under Donald Trump .
“The FCC must change course” and “achieve four main goals: regain control of Big Tech, promote national security, unleash economic prosperity, and ensure accountability and good governance of the FCC,” he wrote.
His appointment could also have consequences in the media field. During his campaign, Donald Trump threatened to withdraw their broadcasting licenses from the CBS and ABC channels, which he accused of favoring Kamala Harris, very complex procedures which would go through the FCC.