Americans Need Brendan Carr as FCC Chair to Rein in Big Tech
Big Tech has grown accustomed to operating without limitations. The lack of necessary oversight is most evident in their efforts to censor and block users for speech they don’t like. With President Trump’s election victory, Big Tech will soon learn that Americans do not appreciate being muzzled. This lesson will be taught by Trump’s pick for FCC chairman, Brendan Carr. At the helm of the agency, he will bring much-needed reform to the digital space that has been under the boot of Big Tech for too long.
In his statement announcing the selection of Carr for the role, President Trump called FCC Commissioner Carr a “warrior for Free Speech.” This title is well earned since, just days before the announcement, he sent a letter to Big Tech CEOs asking for answers relating to their reliance on the “Orwellian-named” company NewsGuard, which advertises itself as an unbiased rater of news organizations.
Carr rightly points out that NewsGuard betrays their self-righteousness by “[operating] as part of the broader censorship cartel.” He backed up his rhetoric by pointing to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the protections it affords for good faith actions taken by Big Tech. Since the FCC has jurisdiction over the implementation of those protections, Carr can leverage Section 230 to get Big Tech to respect the free speech of Americans. He posted on X that “Any tech company that continues to rely on NewsGuard is putting its Section 230 protections in serious jeopardy.”
Carr is also outspoken about the “messy, delayed rollout” of high-speed internet to Americans provided for in the 2021 infrastructure bill. The bill specifically set aside $42 billion for this purpose — money that has not been used to connect a single home or business. He called out the Biden administration for its focus on rewarding political friends rather than helping tax-paying Americans get online.
Additionally, Carr brought up how an $885 million infrastructure award won in the 2020 FCC auction by Starlink to connect rural homes and businesses was revoked by the FCC for seemingly no good reason. A Facebook post calling out the egregious behavior of the Biden administration was censored by the company at the behest of a third-party fact-checker. Carr blasted the decision and called for the platform to stop censoring posts on behalf of the government.
Broadcast media is also in Carr’s sights. In the lead-up to the election, NBC gave airtime to Kamala Harris by featuring her on “Saturday Night Live” the weekend before the election. Carr called out the behavior citing the FCC’s Equal Time rule which is intended to stop “a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election.” Broadcast media’s privileged use of limited airwaves requires them to respect the public interest. Carr posted on X that he intends to enforce the requirement.
Outlined by Carr in the Heritage Foundation’s presidential transition publication, Project 2025, is a whole host of necessary FCC reforms. Some examples include expanding transparency rules to cover Big Tech and updating the “Covered List” of risky communication equipment to better protect national security. Carr is meticulously aware of what needs to be reformed and prioritized if the FCC is going to be successful in achieving its mission.
Carr is laser-focused on restoring fairness and free speech to the internet and other communication networks. As chairman of the FCC, he will be in a perfect position to do just that. By stopping the abuses of Big Tech, holding broadcast media to higher standards, ending the political abuse of the FCC, and implementing other necessary changes, Carr will be able to make sure that Americans are free to generate and consume content online without fear of censorship or punishment.
Americans needed a free speech champion at the helm of the FCC and President Trump delivered exactly that.
Caleb Larson is a cybersecurity researcher, policy analyst with the Internet Accountability Project, Heritage Foundation alum, and contributor at The Federalist where he writes about cybersecurity-related issues facing the United States.
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