Brendan Carr is an ultra-partisan Project 2025 author, who has repeatedly shown fealty to Donald Trump, other powerful Republicans, and corporate interests.
Today, Carr backs expediting approval for Elon Musk’s Starlink program despite numerous conflicts of interest after Musk contributed over a quarter of a billion dollars to Trump and will now head the Department of Government efficiency. During the first Trump term, Carr made repeated partisan attacks on Trump’s favorite pet subjects, and even backed an executive order retaliating against social media companies after Twitter fact-checked one of Trump’s false election fraud claims. Carr has backed big business numerous times throughout his career through his efforts to repeal net neutrality, which ensures equal access to the internet and is opposed by large corporations. One area where Carr and Trump may have disagreement is on the subject of TikTok. Carr supports banning the app and once called it “digital fentanyl.” Trump however recently indicated openness to allowing TikTok to continue in the U.S. despite a bipartisan law that will ban it the day before he comes into office. |
Brendan Carr Was An Author Of The Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025.” According to USA TODAY, "As the top Republican at the FCC, Carr was widely expected to receive the job. But as one of the authors of Project 2025, the 900-page 'presidential transition project' released by the Heritage Foundation, we have clear window into his future plans for the agency." [USA TODAY, 11/25/24]
2024: Donald Trump Disavowed Project 2025 During The Campaign. According to NBC News, "President-elect Donald Trump and his allies disavowed the conservative Project 2025 during the election, seeing the conservative transition plan and policy blueprint as a liability after Democrats used it to attack his campaign. Some close to Trump even suggested those tied to the effort would be shut out of a potential administration. 'They made themselves nuclear,' Howard Lutnick, the co-chair of Trump’s transition and his nominee to serve as Commerce Secretary, told CNBC in September. But with the campaign over, Trump’s transition team is turning to Project 2025 to help staff the next administration." [NBC News, 11/22/24]
May 2020: Brendan Carr Supported President Trump’s Executive Order Revoking A Liability Shield For Social Media Companies In Retaliation After Twitter Fact-Check A False Election Fraud Claim. According to The Verge, "On May 26th, Trump tweeted, 'There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent.' Twitter labeled the tweet as misleading, marking the first time the platform had taken any action to tell its users a claim might be false. Conservatives immediately accused Twitter of pushing a liberal agenda, evoking violations of free speech and censorship. It didn’t matter that the tweet was still up, albeit with a label attached. In subsequent days, Trump signed an executive order instructing the FCC to rework Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the controversial law that encourages platforms to moderate content by shielding them from liability for what users post. The executive order was transparently written to punish social media companies over the actions they took on Trump’s tweets; the order also placed the future of online content moderation right on the FCC’s doorstep. [...] Carr welcomed the order with open arms, with an appearance on Fox News. 'If these entities want to act as political actors, like everyone who has First Amendment rights can do, then I think that raises questions about whether they should be getting special treatment above and beyond any other political actor that’s out there,' he said." [Verge, 10/29/20]
2024: Brendan Carr Reiterated His Support From Repeal Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act Which Protects Social Media Companies From Liability. According to USA TODAY, "To address these 'threats' to free speech, Carr proposes scraping Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which grants immunity to tech companies that moderate user-generated content. 'Congress should do so by ensuring that Internet companies no longer have carte blanche to censor protected speech while maintaining their Section 230 protections,' Carr wrote in Project 2025." [USA TODAY, 11/25/24]
During The First Trump Administration, Brendan Carr Was Known For Partisan Attacks On Trump’s Favorite Subjects Well-Outside The FCC’s Areas Of Interest. According to POLITICO, "He rails against the 'far left’s' hoaxes. He says the World Health Organization has been 'beclowned' over its response to the coronavirus. And he describes a 'secret and partisan surveillance machine' run by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff. Those aren’t President Donald Trump’s words. They came from Brendan Carr, the junior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, who is embracing a flavor of distinctly Trumpian rhetoric that could help him leapfrog his way to the chairmanship of the five-member regulatory agency." [POLITICO, 6/2/20]
Brendan Carr Supported Expediting Approval For Elon Musk’s SpaceX; Musk Contributed Over $250 Million To The Trump Campaign And Will Serve In The Department Of Government Efficiency
Brendan Carr Supported Expediting Approval Of Satellites Launched By Elon Musk’s SpaceX. According to USA TODAY, "Carr wants to support Musk's Starlink, a satellite constellation that provides internet coverage to over 100 countries. StarLink is a subsidiary of aerospace company SpaceX. He says in Project 2025 that the FCC should expedite its review and approval of satellites from Starlink and the Amazon-owned Kuiper, arguing that doing so would 'significantly accelerate efforts to end the digital divide and disrupt the federal regulatory and subsidy regime.'" [USA TODAY, 11/25/24]
2024: Elon Musk Spent Over $250 Million Supporting Trump And Other Republicans. According to CBS, "Elon Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to back President-elect Donald Trump and other Republican candidates, campaign finance records filed Thursday show. The sum makes Musk, the world's richest person, the largest donor in the 2024 election cycle to either party, Federal Election Commission filings show." [CBS, 12/6/24]
2024: Trump Picked Elon Musk To Head The Department Of Government Efficiency, Which Will Focus On Reducing Federal Spending. According to CBS, "After Trump's victory, the president-elect tapped him to lead a new initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency with former Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, advising the president on cutting $500 billion in annual spending and reducing federal government positions." [CBS, 12/6/24]
2018: Brendan Carr Voted To Repeal Net Neutrality. According to Michigan Public NPR, "The Federal Communications Commission is implementing what it calls the Restoring Internet Freedom order. That order repeals net neutrality rules implemented by the Obama administration in 2015. FCC Chair Ajit Pai calls the order a repeal of 'unnecessary and harmful internet regulations.' Opponents call it a repeal of 'internet neutrality protections.' The FCC voted along party lines with the three Republicans voting for the repeal and the two Democrats voting against it. Brendan Carr is one of the Republican FCC Commissioners who voted for the repeal. Carr spoke with Stateside about the impact this order will have on the internet consumer. " [Michigan Public NPR, 6/11/18]
2024: Brendan Carr Effectively Voted Against Restoring Net Neutrality Rules. According to NPR, "The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 on Thursday to reclassify broadband as a public utility, such as water and electricity — to regulate access to the internet. The move to expand government oversight of internet service providers comes after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the magnitude of the digital divide, forcing consumers to rely on high-speed internet for school and work, as well as social and health support. [...] The decision effectively restores so-called net neutrality rules that were first introduced during the Obama administration in 2015 and repealed two years later under President Trump. [...] Dissenting FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Republican, said that fears of a sluggish or pricey internet without the rules were overblown — that consumers benefited from faster speeds and lower prices since the repeal. Net neutrality advocates dispute the argument that broadband rates dropped when net neutrality went away, saying the numbers are misleading." [NPR, 4/25/24]
Net Neutrality Prevents Internet Providers From Speeding Up Or Slowing Down The Internet For Certain Customers. According to NPR, "Net neutrality is a wonky term for the idea that the flow of information on the internet should be treated equally and that internet service providers can't interfere with what consumers do online. Also referred to as an 'open internet,' net neutrality aims to level the digital marketplace, prohibiting internet service providers (ISPs) like Comcast and AT&T from running fast lanes and slow lanes — speeding up or slowing down internet speeds — for online services like Netflix and Spotify. Sponsor Message" [NPR, 4/25/24]
Brendan Carr Supported Banning TikTok, Calling It A Way For Beijing To “Run A Foreign Influence Campaign.” According to USA TODAY, "Among other measures, Carr supports banning TikTok, claiming that it poses a national security threat, although the president-elect joined the popular social media platform in June. He writes in Project 2025 that the app '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.'" [USA TODAY, 11/25/24]
2022: Brendan Carr Described TikTok As “Digital Fentanyl.” According to The Wrap, "FCC commissioner Brendan Carr is doubling down on his call for the U.S. government to ban Beijing-based TikTok, describing the popular social media app as 'digital fentanyl.' 'At the end of the day, TikTok is China’s digital fentanyl,' Carr said Friday in an appearance on Fox News’ 'America’s Newsroom.'" [The Wrap, 11/11/22]
December 2024: President Trump Indicated He Supported Allowing TikTok To Continue Operating For Some Time After Seeing The Views He Received On The App. According to Reuters, "President-elect Donald Trump indicated on Sunday that he favored allowing TikTok to keep operating in the United States for at least a little while, saying he had received billions of views on the social media platform during his presidential campaign. Trump's comments before a crowd of conservative supporters in Phoenix, Arizona, were one of the strongest signals yet that he opposes a potential exit of TikTok from the U.S. market" [Reuters, 12/23/24]