WASHINGTON—Republican President-elect Donald Trump announced that he will appoint Brendan Carr to serve as chair of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Carr is currently an FCC commissioner who led the Republican minority of the five commissioners under lame-duck President Joe Biden, the outgoing Democrat.
Carr rose to power in the first Trump FCC under former chair Ajit Pai, a proxy for large internet service providers like Verizon. Carr has long supported Trump and contributed to Project 2025, the controversial “presidential transition” project, which Trump has disavowed publicly.
“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for free speech and has fought against the regulatory lawfare that has stifled Americans’ freedoms and held back our economy,” explained Trump, announcing Carr’s appointment as the highest-level communications regulatory leader in the country.
Trump added, “He will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America’s job creators and innovators and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America.”
Carr is an incumbent commissioner and is not required to go through the approval of the U.S. Senate, which is typically needed to confirm the choice of a new commissioner. The president has the authority to elevate any commissioner to the position of chair of the FCC without the approval of the Senate.
Despite Trump characterizing Carr as a “warrior for free speech,” Carr posted to X on November 17 that in his role as chair, he will target “broadcast media” that “have had the privilege of using a scarce and valuable public resource—our airwaves.”
He added, “In turn, they are required by law to operate in the public interest. When the transition is complete, the FCC will enforce this public interest obligation.” Several in the news media and across civil society groups are concerned Carr intends to act as a censor of media critical of Trump.
“As the author of the Project 2025 chapter on the FCC, he has supported policy changes that both threaten free expression online and change the understanding of the FCC’s authority,” said Chris Lewis, president and chief executive officer at Public Knowledge, a progressive communications policy lobbying group.
“For almost a century, the FCC has been the expert agency on communications networks, mostly dealing with the wires and public airwaves—not online speech,” Lewis said.
“It’s concerning that the incoming chair believes that the FCC has the authority to change the scope of the plain language of a statute, but not regulate broadband in the interest of consumers.”
Carr has also gone on record as opposing net neutrality. A hallmark of his successful 2020 presidential campaign, President Biden promised to reinstate the Obama-era net neutrality rules to much praise from consumer interest groups, progressive public policy think tanks, digitally native industries and others.
The adult entertainment industry has historically supported net neutrality rules to protect equal access to broadband speeds. However, former Trump FCC chair Pai killed the regulation in favor of a more “free market” approach that is dominated by the largest internet service providers over digitally-native enterprises, including online porn sites.
Net neutrality is expected to be overturned by a panel of judges in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, after the lame-duck FCC, led by outgoing chair Jessica Rosenworcel, pushed through net neutrality rules on a party-line vote. The Sixth Circuit panel has already signaled that the FCC may have exceeded its authority.
Carr is expected to “press pause” on net neutrality policies.
