FCC Pick Has Pushed Trump’s Causes

So President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Brendan Carr to lead the Federal Communications Commission in his second administration, elevating the Republican official who has been outspoken about his support for Elon Musk’s businesses, suggesting a potential financial benefit for Musk if he is confirmed, according to Forbes.

Key Facts

• Carr, who already serves as one of five FCC commissioners, has been named to become the chair of the commission, which manages telecommunications like radio, television and the internet.
• Carr is a Republican who has long pushed a more conservative vision for the FCC, claiming in recent days he wants to “dismantle” a “censorship cartel” biased against Trump, “rein in the administrative state”—referring to regulatory agencies and decisions that Republicans believe are too far-reaching—and abolish diversity initiatives, among other proposals.
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  He has also regularly spoken out in favor of Musk and his companies—particularly Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX that provides satellite internet services—accusing the Biden administration of “regulatory harassment” against Musk’s companies in 2023 and writing a letter to the Brazilian government in September, describing its threat to outlaw Starlink and the country’s ban on Musk-owned social media company X as “apparently unlawful and partisan political actions.”
• Musk’s companies do extensive business with the federal government and Starlink stands to financially benefit from a friendly FCC leader, after the company previously lost out on $885 million in rural broadband subsidies under the agency’s current Democrat-controlled board.
• Carr has suggested he would take a more positive stance toward Starlink as FCC chair, telling Politico in October he thinks “it would be fair to get [Starlink] back” into the agency’s broadband program.
• Carr has also proposed imposing more rules on big tech companies—like forcing them to be more transparent and limiting when social media companies are shielded from legal liability—that could affect X, and it remains to be seen how Carr would handle the Musk-owned company versus its competitors.