President-elect Donald Trump selected Big Tech opponent Brendan Carr to lead the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates various modes of American communication, sending shockwaves through the establishment media. Why? Because Carr, a fierce critic of the media’s “censorship cartel,” wrote the Project 2025 chapter on freedom of speech.
“The FCC should promote freedom of speech,” he argued in the Heritage Foundation’s reportedly radical policy “wish list.” He maintained that the regulatory agency’s primary goal should be “reining in Big Tech.”
“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,” he wrote. “Nowhere is that clearer than when it comes to Big Tech and its attempts to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square.”
“Today, a handful of corporations can shape everything from the information we consume to the places we shop. These corporate behemoths are not merely exercising market power; they are abusing dominant positions. They are not simply prevailing in the free market; they are taking advantage of a landscape that has been skewed—in many cases by the government—to favor their business models over those of their competitors. It is hard to imagine another industry in which a greater gap exists between power and accountability.”
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In order to correct these wrongs, Carr proposed reforming Section 230, which the courts have interpreted to provide sweeping immunity to online companies. Many of these companies, while acting as publishers, nevertheless enjoy the protections of open platforms. Carr called for the FCC to work with Congress to ensure “that Internet companies no longer have carte blanche to censor protected speech while maintaining their Section 230 protections.” Additionally, he argued for increased transparency about social media algorithms and censorship practices.
This, of course, is good news for the American people, bad news for the mainstream censorship complex.
“How Trump’s FCC chief pick could make life more difficult for media companies,” a Los Angeles Times headline fretted.
“The trepidation comes from Carr’s open criticism of broadcasters and tech firms on behalf of Trump, who is famously hostile to journalists and outlets that criticize him,” the paper alleged. “Big media companies are bracing for the possibility that he will do Trump’s bidding when the president-elect threatens retribution against media outlets that are unfriendly to him.”
Carr, who Trump called a “warrior for Free Speech, wrote on X in response to his appointment, “We must dismantle the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights for everyday Americans.”
Of course, the best way to do that is not through a regulatory agency but with an Article V convention. To join the grassroots-led fight to safeguard freedom of speech and other fundamental American rights from the heavy hand of government, sign the Convention of States petition below!
Trump seizes control of the FCC with ‘Big Tech Enemy No. 1’
Published in Blog on November 22, 2024 by Jakob Fay
