US President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Brendan Carr to serve as the chair of the country’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an independent agency that is overseen by the US Congress and tasked with regulating the telecommunications, broadband, and broadcasting industries, among other things.
Carr belongs to the Republican party and is one of the more experiences commissioners of the FCC. “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,” Trump said in his announcement on Sunday, November 17.
“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,” the businessman-turned-politician added.
Who is Brendan Carr?
Carr has been an FCC official since 2012. His appointment as a commissioner has been unanimously confirmed by the US Senate thrice so far. During Trump’s first term as president, Carr was not only nominated to the FCC but also served as an adviser to Ajith Pai, who was picked to head the agency at the time. He has also worked as the FCC’s general counsel.
After finishing his undergraduate studies in Georgetown University, Carr earned his law degree from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. He went on to work as a law clerk for Judge Dennis Shedd on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Before joining the FCC, Carr also had a short stint in the private sector, working for Wiley Rein LLP, where he was involved in the law firm’s cases pertaining to appellate, litigation, and telecom.
“Carr has led the FCC’s work to modernise its infrastructure rules and accelerate the buildout of high-speed networks. His reforms cut billions of dollars in red tape, enabled the private sector to construct high-speed networks in communities across the country, and extended America’s global leadership in 5G,” according to the agency’s official website, which also mentions that Carr leads a telehealth initiative for low-income Americans and veterans.
What is Carr’s policy stance?
Carr has openly expressed his views against Big Tech. He believes that the FCC should have “an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth.”
Penning a chapter of the controversial 'Project 2025' manifesto drafted by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, Carr identified four key priorities for the FCC, namely: reining in Big Tech, promoting national security, unleashing economic prosperity, and ensuring FCC accountability and good governance.
Carr is also reportedly close with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, having reportedly travelled to Texas to attend a rocket launch of the billionaire-owned space exploration company in the past.
On the other hand, the FCC commissioner has been critical of incumbent President Biden’s broadband programme that sought to expand internet access to hard-to-reach corners of the country. Carr argued that the programme had failed to connect any households to broadband internet and that affordability requirements had led to it “going off the rails.”
What to expect with Carr as FCC chair?
Since he is already part of the FCC, Carr will immediately start serving as the head of the agency after Trump is sworn in as president. Unlike other members of Trump’s cabinet, his appointment as the chair doesn’t have to be confirmed by the US Senate. However, the five-member leadership of the FCC will not have a Republican majority until Trump appoints another commissioner from the conservative side.
Social media ‘censorship’: As FCC chair, Carr is expected to crack down on the alleged over-moderation of online content by limiting the scope of Section 230 of the Communications Act, which grants tech companies legal immunity from third-party content on their platforms. By clarifying certain provisions of the Act, Carr hopes that it will “appropriately limit the number of cases in which a platform can censor with the benefit of Section 230’s protections,” according to the Project 2025 blueprint.
TikTok ban: Carr has unequivocally supported a ban on TikTok. The ByteDance-owned video sharing platform has been on the verge of being blocked in the country for some time now. However, Trump currently opposes the ban and may try to reverse the policy ultimatum set for ByteDance to either sell TikTok to a US-based company by January 19, 2025, or face a ban, as per reports.
Net neutrality: Based on the GOP agenda, Carr is likely to downgrade telecom issues such as net neutrality and digital discrimination rules that were identified as priorities for the agency under incumbent Democratic FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel, according to a report by Politico. Net neutrality, which is considered to be a crucial for maintaining the open-ness of the internet, was codified into US law by President Barack Obama before being reversed by President Trump, and later reinstated by President Biden.
Notably, Carr voted in favour of rolling back net neutrality rules in 2017 and pushed back against restoring them earlier this year. In August 2024, a US court granted an interim stay on the net neutrality rules and legal proceedings are ongoing in the case.
Spectrum and subsidy allocation: Since his years at the FCC, Carr has advocated for a “technology neutral” approach to allocating broadband subsidies to wired internet service providers as well as satellite internet providers, according to Bloomberg. He has also aggressively pushed for a plan to free up wireless spectrum for the private sector. However, the FCC’s authority to conduct spectrum auctions needs to be authorised by the US Congress before that can happen.
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