3 days Ago By Falyn Stempler
Conflict of interest concerns have skyrocketed after Donald Trump announced his pick for the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. The President-elect announced Sunday that Brendan Carr, a lawyer with ties to Project 2025 and shares a close relationship with Elon Musk , would be given the position, with Trump calling Carr a "warrior for Free Speech." The billionaire has played a key role in Trump's campaign, donating at least $119 million , and presidential transition, reportedly hopping on calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after being tapped as co-chair of the new Department of Government Efficiency.
MSNBC viewers vow to boycott show after 'restarting communication with Trump' Trump will declare national emergency to use military for mass deportations Musk, the richest man in the world slated to become the first trillionaire in the near future, may also receive the largest tax break in history under the Trump presidency. Musk, who has been increasingly involved in Trump's presidential transition , is reportedly clashing with top Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn over Cabinet picks, according to an Axios report published Monday. Carr wrote the chapter on the FCC in the 900-plus-long Project 2025 initiative, which suggests his approach may depart from the past of both parties.
The three issues Carr raised in his acknowledgment of the new role were tackling "censorship" of technology companies, holding broadcast TV and radio stations accountable and ending the FCC’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. In 2017, Trump appointed Carr to the FCC where he is now the senior Republican at the agency, making his appointment predictable. Carr shares a close relationship with Musk and has accused Democrats of using “regulatory lawfare and harassment” against Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service.
As chairman, Carr may be able to give Starklink substantial federal subsidies. Carr has previously pledged to Politico that he would be an "even-handed" regulator after accusations of his conflict of interest with Musk arose. DON'T MISS.
.. Joe Rogan says celebrities messaged him about Donald Trump endorsement Elon Musk 'helped halt the sale of Alex Jones' Infowars to The Onion' Mortified RFK Jr caught with Big Mac in Trump McDonald's 'hazing' After social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter decided to moderate content years ago, some conservatives claimed their views were being censored.
While platform officials defended the move and claimed to be acting in good faith, some conservatives claimed they were being treated unfairly, which, in part, contributed to Musk's decision to buy Twitter and turn it into X. In a recent letter to the CEOs of Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Apple, Carr suggested the Trump administration and Congress “will take broad-ranging actions to restore” Americans’ First Amendment rights, which could "include both a review of your companies’ activities as well as third-party organizations and groups that have acted to curtail those rights.” The letter singled out Newsguard, a startup that rates the reliability of news websites, which fiercely denied the allegations.
Carr laid out an agenda for the federal agency under a conservative administration in a chapter of Project 2025. He said the agency’s top priorities should be “reining in Big Tech, promoting national security, unleashing economic prosperity and ensuring FCC accountability and good governance.” Carr also said that the Chinese social media platform TikTok “poses a serious and unacceptable risk to America’s national security” and should be banned.
Carr also supports reversing net neutrality and scrapping Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives immunity to tech platforms that moderate user-generated content. “Congress should do so by ensuring that Internet companies no longer have carte blanche to censor protected speech while maintaining their Section 230 protections,” he wrote in Project 2025. The FCC does have jurisdiction over local TV and radio licenses, which has sparked concern as Trump has called for the punishment of news networks with unfavorable coverage during his campaign.
Carr has suggested he would take Trump's complaints seriously, arguing that “broadcast media have had the privilege of using a scarce and valuable public resource — our airwaves. In turn, they are required by law to operate in the public interest.” This has been enforced by the FCC in the past as stations file pro forma quarterly reports.
His appointment has been met with mixed reviews. Gigi Sohn, a lawyer who worked for the FCC under Democratic chairman Tom Wheeler, said that he is "highly qualified and a good guy" despite "not agreeing on everything (or much of anything!)." Though others have rung alarm bells about his bias toward Musk.
The media reform group Free Press, which opposes Carr, said in a damning statement that “Carr doesn’t care about protecting the public interest; he got this job because he will carry out Trump and Musk’s personal vendettas.”.
