President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, will oversee the agency that regulates U.S. internet access and communications networks such as TV and radio. Carr believes it’s an institution ripe for change, according to the nominee’s Project 2025 chapter on the agency FCC.
Carr will be stepping into the role of FCC Chair after serving as one of its five commissioners since 2017, when Trump nominated him to the role during his first administration. Prior to that, Carr served as the agency’s general counsel.
The FCC may not be a household name to most Americans, but the agency enforces communications laws, runs programs to help communities gain access to high-speed internet and regulates communications services, including satellite internet access, among other tasks. But under Carr, the agency may pivot to some new priorities during Trump’s next term, with a renewed focus on battling big technology companies and Chinese-based telecom firms.
“The FCC needs to change course and bring new urgency to achieving four main goals,” including “reining in Big Tech,” Carr wrote in his chapter on the FCC in Project 2025.
Here’s what to know about Carr’s priorities.
How might the FCC deal with tech giants?
In Project 2025, Carr highlighted what he believes is a need for a new approach to dealing with tech giants such as Google, Meta and others.
“Today, a handful of corporations can shape everything from the information we consume to the places we shop,” Carr wrote in the document. “These corporate behemoths are not merely exercising market power, they are abusing dominant positions.”
The FCC should restrict immunity from Section 230, part of a law that says tech companies aren’t liable if a user posts something libelous, as well as tamp down the businesses’ ability to “censor protected speech while maintaining their Section 230 protections,” he wrote.
Carr also wants tech companies to be more transparent about their algorithm changes and their decisions to block or demonetize users.
What are Carr’s views on Elon Musk?
Carr has built an alliance with billionaire Musk, the world’s wealthiest person who backed Trump’s campaign and whose Starlink satellite internet service could benefit from access to federal cash.
In a Tuesday interview with Fox News, Carr pointed to Musk as an example of how the federal government doesn’t treat people fairly, noting that a grant of almost $900 million to Musk’s Starlink was “revoked unlawfully.” Last year, the FCC said it rejected the grant because of lack of proof that Starlink would be able to provide service to hundreds of thousands of rural properties.
“It is time for the American government to not give people different treatment based on their last name,” Carr told Fox News. “Everybody will get a fair shake from the government going forward.”
What about his views on TikTok and Chinese businesses?
In his Project 2025 chapter, Carr singled out TikTok and other Chinese-owned businesses as potential threats to U.S. security.
“As law enforcement officials have made clear, TikTok poses a serious and unacceptable risk to America’s national security,” Carr wrote. “It also provides Beijing with an opportunity to run a foreign influence campaign by determining the news and information that the app feeds to millions of Americans.”
That would align his views along those with the Biden administration, with the president signing a law in April that would require TikTok to be sold or else banned from the U.S.
Carr also wrote that he believes the FCC needs to do more to monitor and restrict Chinese telecom and tech businesses from operating within the U.S.
What does Carr say about broadcasters?
Carr has taken aim at some broadcasters, including CBS News, echoing Trump’s claims that they engage in political bias. For instance, Carr singled out NBC for including Trump’s Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, in a “Saturday Night Live” skit before the election.
“This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” Carr wrote on X on November 2. “The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct — a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election.”
After Trump announced Carr’s pick, Carr said on X that he will ensure the FCC “will enforce” laws that call on broadcasters “to operate in the public interest.”
Trump has repeatedly called to strip major broadcasters such as ABC, NBC and CBS of their licenses. During the 2024 campaign, Trump sued CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, alleging the network used “deceitful” editing of her responses. CBS News has called the president-elect’s claims “completely without merit” and added it intended to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.
What do supporters and critics say about Carr?
Trump praised Carr as “a warrior for Free Speech” in a statement announcing his selection. Fellow FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, a Democrat, described Carr as “a dedicated public servant and a recognized leader on the many issues before the Commission today.”
But some critics have flagged some of Carr’s stances, with the nonpartisan public interest group Free Press describing his relationship with Musk as well as his stance on broadcasters as problematic.
“While styling himself as a free-speech champion, Carr refused to stand up when Trump threatened to take away the broadcast licenses of TV stations for daring to fact check him during the campaign,” Free Press Action Co-CEO Craig Aaron said in a statement. “This alone should be disqualifying.”
Free Press and Fight for the Future, an advocacy group focused on digital rights, both have cited concerns about net neutrality, a policy that ensures internet service providers treat all websites and online content equally. Net neutrality was overturned during the first Trump administration, but was restored during Biden’s term.
“Trump’s nomination of Brendan Carr, one of the co-authors of Project 2025, to head the FCC is more than just a reversal of popular policies like net neutrality,” said Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, said in an email. “Carr has made clear he actually wants the FCC to get more involved in policing online speech.”
