Trump’s Pick to Bring Digital Culture Wars to FCC: ‘He’s Going to Be a Loud Mouthpiece’

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, while focusing on issues like rural broadband access and stopping spam calls.

But that will change come January, when Brendan Carr becomes chairman of the agency under President Trump. Observers expect he will use the FCC as a platform to bash the media and tech for silencing conservative views.

“You’re going to see Carr amplify whatever media grievance Trump has,” says Tim Hanlon, CEO of the Vertere Group, a consulting firm. “He’s going to be a loud mouthpiece.”

Related Stories

VIP+

Why Walmart Is Becoming a Streaming Power Player

Lena Dunham to Write Sam Bankman-Fried Movie for Apple, A24 Based on Michael Lewis Book 'Going Infinite' (EXCLUSIVE)

The FCC has five commissioners, with the president’s party generally holding a three-member majority. Carr is expected to pursue a standard Republican deregulatory agenda, including a repeal of net neutrality regulations and the relaxation of caps on TV station ownership.

But in the days since his nomination on Sunday, he has also shown he will not be afraid to mix it up on higher profile controversies. Among 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 seek to shake up the “status quo” in broadcast news.

During the presidential campaign, Trump and his allies generated a firestorm around a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, claiming her answers were distorted. When Carr was asked about it in October, he called on CBS to release a full transcript, but suggested the FCC had limited options in addressing such complaints.

“I don’t think this should be a federal case,” Carr told Glenn Beck, noting that the “news distortion” rule is narrow and only “one case out of a million” has any legitimacy.

“We don’t want to get into authenticating news or being a Ministry of Truth,” Carr said.

But on Tuesday, he told Fox News the FCC would likely review the “60 Minutes” complaint while considering whether to approve the merger of Skydance and Paramount Global, the parent of CBS.

“Carr’s bark is going to be worse than his bite,” Hanlon said, arguing that his role in such disputes will be to “add some perceived credibility from the FCC, even though legally the FCC may have no mandate or legal resource to do anything about it.”

The FCC does have control over 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 bid of $885 million through the program, but the FCC later rejected the company, saying it had not shown it could deliver.

Carr has argued the decision was politically motivated “lawfare” against a high-profile Trump supporter. He was expected to be on hand Tuesday for a SpaceX rocket launch, which Trump was also reportedly planning to attend.

Carr has also shown eagerness to expand the FCC’s traditional purview to take on “censorship” on tech platforms. Carr authored the “Project 2025” chapter about the FCC, and has said that the agency can play a role in regulating how tech platforms moderate content.

Conservatives argue that sites like Facebook and YouTube systematically suppress their viewpoints and demonetize their content. Florida and Texas have each passed laws regulating content moderation, though courts have blocked them from taking effect. In Moody v. Netchoice in July, the Supreme Court held that such laws likely violate the platforms’ freedom of speech.

Carr has argued that the FCC should reinterpret Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to limit immunity for tech platforms. Adam Kovacevich, the CEO of the center-left advocacy group Chamber of Progress, said Carr is seeking to undermine the legal protection that “keeps the Internet from becoming a cesspool.”

“When people tell you what they plan to do, you should believe them,” Kovacevich said in a statement. “Brendan Carr has clearly stated that he plans to attack Section 230 and force online platforms to carry sludge.”

Even those who would like to see more internet regulation question whether the FCC has that power.

“The agency doesn’t have authority over tech platforms and websites,” says Chris Lewis, CEO of Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group that has urged Congress to pass a host of digital regulations. Lewis said asserting 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, did not go that far. He did take immediate and strenuous objection to Harris’ appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” a few days before the election, which he argued was a “blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule.” NBC afforded the Trump campaign equal time the following 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 impede investment in local broadcast newsrooms.”