US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Brendan Carr as the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. The New York Times informed. Carr has previously advocated punishing television networks for political bias and regulating big tech firms like Google and Apple. Because Carr has served on the commission since 2017, the appointment does not require regular Senate confirmation.
Under the Trump administration, the FCC will have two Democratic and three Republican commissioners. Carr will take over from current FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworsel.
Carr wrote the FCC section of the infamous Project 2025 document, proposing new social media restrictions that could benefit conservative views. It also wants to limit the Section 230 legal shield that allows social media and other platforms to post and moderate comments and other user-generated content.
“The censorship cartel must be dismantled,” Carr wrote in X last week. He added that under his leadership, the FCC would also go after the television networks. “Broadcast media have been privileged to use a scarce and valuable public resource – our airwaves. Once the transition is complete, the FCC will fulfill this public interest obligation.”
However, Carr will not have full authority to enact the new rules. Because companies like Google and Meta are not considered communications services, the FCC would have limited authority to regulate them. This means that expanding its powers requires new legislation. Brendan Carr “proposed to do a lot of things that he had no jurisdiction to do, and in other cases he clearly misreads the rules,” Free Press executive director Jessica Gonzalez said. NYT.
That doesn’t mean Carr can’t influence the way the internet works. In 2017, he voted to repeal net neutrality rules, and in 2021, he voted against reinstating them.
