Trump Names Big Tech Critic Brendan Carr as FCC Head
President-elect Donald Trump named critic of the Biden administration's telecom policies and Big Tech Brendan Carr to Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, he said in a statement.
45-year-old Carr is currently the top Republican on the FCC, the independent agency that regulates telecommunications.
A fierce critic of the FCC's decision not to finalize nearly $900 million in broadband subsidies for Elon Musk's SpaceX satellite internet unit Starlink, Commerce Department's $42 billion broadband infrastructure program, and President Joe Biden's spectrum policy.
Last week, Carr wrote to Meta's Facebook, Alphabet's Google, Apple and Microsoft saying they had taken steps to censor Americans. Carr said on Sunday the FCC must 'restore free speech rights for everyday Americans'.
Carr criticized NBC for letting Harris appear on 'Saturday Night Live' just before the election.
Trump in his first term requested the FCC to withdraw broadcasting licenses; then FCC Chairman Ajit Pai dismissed the request 'the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on the content".
The FCC issues eight-year licenses to individual broadcast stations, not to broadcast networks.
In 2022, Carr, a tough critic of China, made history by becoming the first FCC commissioner to visit Taiwan. He had been a long-time proponent of the FCC's hard line toward Chinese telecom companies.
Carr was a bitter opponent of the April decision by the FCC to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules that the commission repealed during the first Trump administration. The Biden FCC rules were put on hold by a federal appeals court.
Trump nominated Carr for the FCC in his first term in January, 2017, after his service as the general counsel to the FCC.
The new administration needs to submit a Republican nominee to replace one of the five members of the commission for the agency to be wholly its control.
Carr 'is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms, and held back our Economy”, Trump said in a statement.