President-elect Donald Trump's pick to head up the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said he would take on Big Tech censorship and eradicate the runaway diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program at the agency.
Brendan Carr, who Trump in a Truth Social post called a “warrior for Free Speech,” said: “We must dismantle the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights for everyday Americans.”
Carr has said that the Big Tech firms are complicit in an effort, alongside so-called media "fact checkers," to “defund, demonetize, and otherwise put out of business news outlets and organizations that dared to deviate from an approved narrative.”
“This censorship cartel is an affront to Americans’ constitutional freedoms and must be completely dismantled,” Carr said. "Americans must be able to reclaim their right to free speech."
Carr also said on Monday that the FCC's focus on DEI will end next year.
"The FCC’s most recent budget request said that promoting DEI was the agency’s second highest [sic] strategic goal. Starting next year, the FCC will end its promotion of DEI," Carr wrote in a post to X.
Carr will be able to forgo the typical Senate approval process for cabinet picks once Trump enters office on Jan. 20, 2025 since he is on the commission already and was unanimously confirmed to a new five-year term last year, Politico reported.
“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that stifled Americans’ Freedoms and held back our economy,” Trump wrote. “He will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America’s Job Creators and Innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America.”
Timely: Defund Fake News
Carr said he would dismantle Big Tech's "censorship cartel," singling out the firms’ dealings with NewsGuard – a for-profit “fact-checking” firm that congressional Republicans charge is targeting conservative outlets by labeling them as more “risky” than liberal outlets.
“Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft & others have played central roles in the censorship cartel,” Carr wrote in an X post. “The Orwellian named NewsGuard along with ‘fact checking’ groups & ad agencies helped enforce one-sided narratives.”
The Big Tech executives were told to submit responses to the FCC by Dec. 10 on which of their products or services partner with NewsGuard and whether they require online customers to rely on NewsGuard while using their services.
Carr noted that NewsGuard’s advisory board includes at least one member who "signed the now infamous October 2020 letter from former intelligence community officials that flamed the false claim that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation — a letter that itself fueled a wave of censorship."
For companies like Google and Meta that also offer advertising services, Carr is also seeking information on whether they use NewsGuard or any other “media monitor or fact checking service” as part of their dealings with clients.
In August, Meta/Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee that “senior Biden administration officials, including the White House, repeatedly pressured” Meta to “censor” content related to the coronavirus pandemic in 2021.
WorldTribune.com Covid-related content was routinely subjected to such pressure.
The FCC’s most recent budget request said that promoting DEI was the agency’s second highest strategic goal.
Starting next year, the FCC will end its promotion of DEI. pic.twitter.com/we7ViUXczA — Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 18, 2024
We must dismantle the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights for everyday Americans.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 18, 2024
Thank you, President Trump!
I am humbled and honored to serve as Chairman of the FCC. Now we get to work. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/MPyL2d38kT — Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 18, 2024
