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The Federal Communications Commission’s Chairman Brendan Carr criticized social media giants in an interview with Semafor Thursday, saying they are “the greatest threat [to free speech] that we have seen over the last several years.” Carr also defended the agency’s probes into multiple broadcasters that US President Donald Trump has previously criticized.
“The social media companies got more power over more speech than any institution in history,” Carr told Ben Smith at Semafor’s Innovating to Restore Trust in News Summit in Washington, DC.
“What we saw them doing with that power was discriminating against viewpoints, and the government was involved,” Carr said, referring to the Biden administration’s pressure on Facebook to censor some COVID-19 content during the pandemic.
“My position is we want more speech, not less,” Carr added.
The FCC head said part of his aim is to “re-empower local broadcasters to feel like they have the freedom to serve their local communities. Because they have these relationships with the national programmers that I don’t think is entirely healthy.”
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Since taking the role, Carr has emerged as one of the Trump administration’s most aggressive enforcers, taking aim at a number of media companies that operate on public airwaves.
He has launched probes into US public broadcasting services NPR and PBS over their advertising and sponsorship practices, in what some critics say is a politically motivated move. He has also revived complaints into CBS, ABC, and NBC, but not a complaint against Fox. Carr has scrutinized the merger of Paramount and entertainment company Skydance. He has said he would fast-track an investigation into how CBS News covered the 2024 presidential election, and suggested that could factor into his view on the corporate merger of CBS’ parent company.
Carr has also launched an investigation into radio stations owned by Audacy, a media company recently acquired by an investment arm tied to liberal billionaire George Soros.
Carr defended the investigations at Semafor’s summit, saying that few people paid attention to an FCC decision to release public comments on a bid to deny the renewal of a local Fox News station under the Biden administration, calling the move “the definition of media bias.” Carr said his actions were not unprecedented, “if you would bother to actually look at what the FCC is doing.”
The FCC chairman said he aimed to ensure that broadcasters live up to their public interest obligations, but didn’t elucidate what exactly that meant. “If you are a broadcast, and you don’t want to serve the public interest, you are free to turn your license in, and you can go podcast, and you can go over the top.”
In response to Elon Musk’s Starlink seeking to expand its role in providing high-speed internet to rural areas, Carr said that “if Starlink or Musk is pushing an issue and he’s right 100% of time, at the FCC, we’re going to side with him 100%. If he’s pushing issues and he’s wrong every single time, then he’s going to lose every single time at the FCC.”