November 19, 2024 - President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday he was naming Brendan Carr as the next Federal Communications Commission chairman, positioning the regulatory agency to do battle against social media companies and TV broadcasters that Republicans portray as too liberal.

Carr, 45, the senior Republican among the FCC’s five commissioners, has vowed in recent days to take on what he called a “censorship cartel” including Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft. Earlier this year, he laid out an aggressive agenda for the FCC in Project 2025, a conservative proposal for Trump’s second term developed by the Heritage Foundation. Carr has been a vocal supporter of billionaire Elon Musk and an advocate of tougher restrictions on China.

“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 a statement Sunday evening. “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 said Sunday night on X that he was “humbled and honored” to serve in the position, and that he would seek to “dismantle the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights for everyday Americans.”

The FCC, which regulates TV and radio broadcasting, telephone and internet service providers, as well as satellites, is an independent agency, but it has pursued a more Democratic agenda during the Biden administration, under the leadership of Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat.

Carr began making moves even before he was named to take charge under the incoming Trump administration. On Wednesday, he sent a letter to Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, warning that he believed they were improperly censoring some viewpoints. He wrote that the new Trump administration may review their companies’ activities.

“Americans have lived through an unprecedented surge in censorship,” he wrote. “Your companies played significant roles in this improper conduct.”

Carr has also indicated that he would scrutinize TV broadcasters in instances that Republicans view as political bias, through the narrow legal authority that the FCC has over such issues. When Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on “Saturday Night Live” days before the election, Carr blasted NBC for trying to “evade” an FCC rule requiring networks to give candidates equal time. NBC later said it gave Trump a commensurate slot following a NASCAR race.

Carr’s ascent also bodes well for the business prospects of Musk, the world’s richest man, with the two cultivating a closer relationship in recent months. Carr has visited SpaceX facilities multiple times this year, including trekking to southern Texas last month to witness SpaceX’s Starship rocket booster float back to Earth in a historic landing.

Musk, who after going all-in on Trump’s campaign has been playing a central role in assembling and vetting key figures in his new administration, on Sunday praised Carr’s plans to take on the “censorship cartel,” posting “based” on X, a slang term meaning approval.

Pending decisions before the FCC include whether to allow Musk’s Starlink satellites to orbit closer to Earth, which would make its internet service speedier and a fiercer competitor to traditional broadband providers. Carr has advocated for Starlink to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in FCC grants. Musk’s social media platform X also stands to benefit from Carr’s vow to scrutinize its rival internet giants such as Facebook and Google.

“His deregulatory views and his affection for Elon Musk are well-known. I expect few surprises,” said Andrew Schwartzman, a veteran telecommunications lawyer.

One issue on which Carr has been out of step with Trump is TikTok, which the president-elect has said he will “save” from a looming nationwide ban. Carr, an outspoken China hawk, has repeatedly called TikTok a danger to national security and has supported banning the app.

Carr has worked at the FCC since 2012 and was appointed a commissioner in 2017 by Trump. He rose through the ranks as an aide to Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, advising him for years on public safety and international issues, and accompanying him on trips abroad.

Pai called Carr a “brilliant advisor and General Counsel” on X on Sunday evening. “I’m confident he will be a great FCC chairman,” Pai wrote.

Carr has developed a lively social media presence over the years, beginning in 2014, when he started experimenting with live-tweeting Pai’s remarks during monthly FCC meetings. He has more recently used X, where he has 102,000 followers, to criticize the Biden administration and to advocate for policies he would pursue under a Trump presidency.

Carr’s appointment drew criticism from left-leaning groups, including the Chamber of Progress, which posted on X on Sunday that if he were confirmed, it would be up to Democrats to defend a content-moderation protection policy that “keeps the internet from becoming a cesspool.”

Craig Aaron, co-CEO of the liberal advocacy group Free Press Action, said Carr’s apparent willingness to target news organizations over their coverage of Trump should be “disqualifying.”

“Brendan Carr has been campaigning for this job with promises to do the bidding of Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” Aaron said. “He’s being rewarded with a promotion, but it’s the American public who will pay the price.”

Carr wrote in the FCC section of Project 2025 that Big Tech posed a threat through its “attempts to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square.”

“The FCC has an important role to play in addressing the threats to individual liberty posed by corporations that are abusing dominant positions in the market,” Carr wrote.