Brendan Carr is a telecom lawyer and longtimer member of the commission
Under recentAdministrations, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been generally on the side of public interest groups that have pressured social media giants to increase moderation of postings to reduce off-color and inflammatory postings.
That may change if President-elect Trump's choice, Brendan Carr, is confirmed as the agency's chief. A career telecom lawyer and regulator, Carr favors unfettered free speech and said in a recent X post that he woulddismantle the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights for everyday Americans.
Carr also said that the commission next year will end its promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
But Carr's free speech advocacy doesn't mean he'll be a friend of giant social platforms like Google and Faceook. He has previously urged that they be stripped of legal protections for posting objectionable or defamatory content. He also supports efforts to ban TikTok in the U.S., citing national security concerns.
Carr is also a prominent contributor to the Project 2025 policy paper that outlines conservative goals for the Trump years. Those goals include loosening existing media ownership rules to allow broader consolidation of local media outlets, primarily television stations.
Local TV stations, like local newspapers, say that big tech companies are unfairly competing with them for advertising dollars and viewer eyeballs.
Carr is also seen as a supporter of satellite broadband delivery systems like Elon Musk's Starlink, as opposed to the land-based fiber optic cable that the Biden Administration favored.
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
Posted: 2024-11-18 17:01:31
