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United States Communications

Trump Picks Carr To Head FCC With Pledge To Fight 'Censorship Cartel' 233

Donald Trump has named FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to chair the U.S. communications regulator when he takes office in January 2025, citing Carr's stance against what Trump called "regulatory lawfare." Carr, a lawyer and longtime Republican who has served at the FCC under both Trump and Biden administrations, has emerged as a vocal critic of major social media companies' content moderation practices.

"Humbled and honored" by the appointment, Carr pledged on X to "dismantle the censorship cartel." As the FCC's senior Republican commissioner, Carr has advocated for stricter oversight of technology companies, pushing for transparency rules on platforms like Google and Facebook, expanded rural broadband access, and tougher restrictions on Chinese-owned TikTok. Trump praised Carr as a "warrior for free speech" while announcing the appointment. During his campaign, Trump has said he would seek to revoke licenses of television networks he views as biased.
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Trump Picks Carr To Head FCC With Pledge To Fight 'Censorship Cartel'

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  • Sooo... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ddtmm ( 549094 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @09:54AM (#64953907)

    During his campaign, Trump has said he would seek to revoke licenses of television networks he views as biased.

    Starting with Fox News?

    • Re:Sooo... (Score:5, Informative)

      by RobinH ( 124750 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @09:58AM (#64953937) Homepage
      Fox News isn't a television network; it's a cable channel. CNN fought against FCC regulation (specifically against the fairness doctrine being applied) back in the 90's and won. The FCC licenses over-the-air "broadcast" networks like NBC, ABC, etc.
      • Re:Sooo... (Score:5, Informative)

        by Oliver Wendell Jones ( 158103 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @10:08AM (#64953965)
        Being pedantic here, but the FCC licenses broadcast networks like NBC-Affiliates, ABC-Affiliates, etc. Most of the major networks don't broadcast over the air to local TVs - they broadcast via satellite to their affiliate network stations who then require an FCC license to re-broadcast that signal locally. Some major networks do own local TV stations that have to be licensed, but the "networks" themselves do not.
      • by Holi ( 250190 )

        Except the GOP's complaints are with MSNBC and CNN which are cable channels as well.

        • by RobinH ( 124750 )
          I'm sure they do, but CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News aren't regulated by the FCC, so this story has nothing to do with them.
          • Re:Sooo... (Score:4, Insightful)

            by narcc ( 412956 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @12:59PM (#64954473) Journal

            Do you think Donnie knows that? Don't be silly.

          • I'm sure they do, but CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News aren't regulated by the FCC, so this story has nothing to do with them.

            I believe you’re arguing with your previous defense in that these are “cable” channels.

            MSNBC also operates on terrestrial broadcast. As in that old-ass OTA Boomer tech the FCC does still regulate differently from cable or other broadcasts.

      • This is 100% bullshit. The fairness doctrine was revoked by the Reagan administration. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

        Plus, like Fox, CNN does not broadcast over the airwaves. Therefore, it does not need an FCC license.
    • Re:Sooo... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @10:30AM (#64954025)

      Starting with Fox News?

      You didn't read what you quoted. Here's the important bit:
      television networks *he* views as biased.

      As long as Fox News continues to give him a daily reacharound *he* won't see them as biased.

    • Nice FP and you deserve the Funny mods, but I think you should have tried to work your joke into your truly vacuous Subject.

      My bad joke of the day is:

      "You can't scramble dregs without breaking eggheads."

      It's one of those feeble jokes that died even before it was explained. You see, the orange puppet doesn't even know he's part of the precipitate. The sociopaths pulling his strings have an infinite need for more money, even if it's become imaginary numbers of imaginary monies. It's the silly eggheads who sti

    • During his campaign, Trump has said he would seek to revoke licenses of television networks he views as biased.

      Starting with Fox News?

      Note that "he views as biased" means, "doesn't slobber all over him with praise for everything."
      So anyone is at risk depending on the day and his whim.

    • No, no, no. Pay attention to what Trump does, not what Trump says. Although I have no doubt that Trump himself believes Fox to be truthful and honest, what do you expect from a man who sees himself at the center of the universe?

      Trump is taking a play out of the book of many autocrats. Chiefly his friend and idol, Orban, who has shut down most of the open press or access to the press by the opposition. As in, don't ban the press outright, instead just revoke licenses due to technicalities.

      In the US, bann

  • by Calydor ( 739835 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @09:56AM (#64953917)

    ... but tougher restrictions on TikTok. Not that I particularly like TikTok, but these two things just don't sound compatible.

  • by fred6666 ( 4718031 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @09:57AM (#64953929)

    Trump's "free speech champion" will be tasked to "revoke licenses of television networks he views as biased".
    Brendan Carr is also against Net Neutrality. So it sounds like yet another bad nomination from Trump.

    • by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @10:00AM (#64953941)
      Fee speech for me but not for thee... - Nate Hentoff
    • by i kan reed ( 749298 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @10:04AM (#64953959) Homepage Journal

      It's remarkable how much "free speech" for certain segments seems to entirely consist of the government banning things they don't like.

      "Orwellian" is a bit of an overused term, but it's very Orwellian.

      • by mjwx ( 966435 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @10:12AM (#64953983)

        It's remarkable how much "free speech" for certain segments seems to entirely consist of the government banning things they don't like.

        "Orwellian" is a bit of an overused term, but it's very Orwellian.

        For those of us who've actually read the book, the parallels are quite striking. Especially their attempts to change the language.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Orgasmatron ( 8103 )

        These are the people who pretend that the Orwellian names given to things are accurate descriptions. The PATRIOT act was patriotic. The Inflation Reduction Act reduced inflation. The border security bill they blamed Republicans for killing was going to secure the border (as long as you don't count the first 2 million illegal crossers per year). Etc, etc.

        In this case, they pretend that the thing named "Network Neutrality" is about making networks neutral when it is really about power and control.

        These pe

        • You know these threats of the bad things that happened in the USSR really don't scare me living in a country where if I'm murdered there's a 1 in 3 chance that a police officer does it(and we don't exactly have a low murder rate to begin with). "Oh no, not a country where dissidents are suppressed with violence that official investigations cover up" is a thing to say in a country where protestors against police violence routinely turn up "dead by suicide" in suspiciously similar circumstances.

          By any strict

          • by cstacy ( 534252 )

            By any strictly objective standard of oppression, you live in a country way way way way way way worse off than even the worst of Stalinist USSR, and not because of "wannabe commissars"

            Settle down, Ivan.

        • by Ksevio ( 865461 )

          The PATRIOT act was patriotic.

          No it wasn't, it was named deceptively to get pushed through quickly with the wave of patiotism

          The Inflation Reduction Act reduced inflation.

          Seems like you might be confused on this one. There's no doubt that inflation is lower now than before the bill, but a lot of that's probably due to COVID shortages going away.

          The border security bill they blamed Republicans for killing...

          Of course people blamed republicans when the bipartisan border security bill that Trump personally requested Republicans not vote for so it wouldn't help Biden.

          In this case, they pretend that the thing named "Network Neutrality"

          Now you're getting a little confused again. Net Neutrality isn't a bill like the

        • Net Neutrality is a principle, not a law (although some laws in some jurisdictions try to enforce it). It's not a marketing gimmick law name such as PATRIOT or Inflation Reduction Act.
          And yes, it's about making networks neutral. Otherwise, my ISP could make a deal with Netflix and throttle competing streaming services to 500 kbps. Or redirect http://google.com/ [google.com] to http://bing.com./ [bing.com.] I already had an ISP who throttled BitTorrent, so it's happening if you leave ISPs to regulate themselves.

      • by skam240 ( 789197 )

        "Orwellian" is a bit of an overused term, but it's very Orwellian.

        Definitely an overused term but the doublespeak here is too blatant to not make one. I was thinking the same thing.

        "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," "Ignorance is strength", "Censorship is free speech"

  • by Holi ( 250190 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @10:12AM (#64953981)

    Not sure how that solves any problem with censorship.
    Nor how this jibes with the 1st Amendment.

    • Not sure how that solves any problem with censorship.
      Nor how this jibes with the 1st Amendment.

      As another poster has pointed out, SCOTUS has ruled that it's okay for the government to ask a media outlet to say or not say something. And it's okay for the media outlet to say no.

      What would violate 1A is if the government passed a law compelling the media to say or not say something.

  • by gary s ( 5206985 )
    Great, Just what we need another lawyer running the FCC. How about someone with engineering background to run it. How about someone who can squash all the garbage electronics coming into the US without proper testing. Radio waves are polluted with noise from these devices.
  • Government shouldn't be pressuring, nor even making suggestions, as to what is posted on any internet site, as long as it's legal.

    Government also shouldn't be telling sites how they can moderate their content, again beyond what is legal.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      Did you see the twitter files? The government 3 letter agencies and the cabinet are the ones that are dictating what is allowed and not allowed. It was/is all social media and not just twitter. The have offices or people from these agencies in offices in these businesses.

      • What makes those "twitter files" any more correct than any other information? It's very difficult - and suspect - to make a claim that all media are untrustworthy except the one you prefer/promote.

        Personally, I expect that all media is trying to promote one story over another. However, that bias is irrelevant when it comes to free speech; of course people should be free to be biased in their speech. Where Free Speech really matters is that you can openly and freely criticize the Powers that Be without fear

      • by narcc ( 412956 )

        Did you see the twitter files?

        That giant nothing-burger? Yeah, we saw it.

        The government 3 letter agencies and the cabinet are the ones that are dictating what is allowed and not allowed.

        False. Did you see the twitter files? Apparently not.

    • Government shouldn't be pressuring, nor even making suggestions, as to what is posted on any internet site, as long as it's legal.

      Government also shouldn't be telling sites how they can moderate their content, again beyond what is legal.

      You should probably do a bit more research as to how things become illegal, since you’re using legality as your defense. Government didn’t have First Amendment exceptions. Until they realized they had to (e.g. “Fire!” in a crowded theatre is illegal if unjustified.)

      Another prime example, is you defining “hate” in speech and how Government should allow it no matter the impact. Are there valid exceptions? We found them before..

  • So the republicans won't be trying to ban, or severely restrict, porn?

  • Because they are the exact opposite of what they claim.

  • ...and have socialists respond to right-wing lies?

  • Wasnt it twitter that cancelled him for making bogus political claims, hence the reason for "truth social" in the first place? Now that he has Elon in his pocket and half of televised media, I guess its time to go after anyone who would say anything. Watch out slashdotters.
  • ...the USA is struggling to survive for even a century. I guess it's China's turn next.

"Nuclear war can ruin your whole compile." -- Karl Lehenbauer

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