Trump picks Project 2025 co-author to run Federal Communications Commission

Trump’s pick to lead the FCC, Brendan Carr, wants Big Tech to start contributing to federal funds and to be compelled not to censor content

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President-elect Donald Trump has picked Brendan Carr, a critic of the Biden administration’s telecom policies and Big Tech, as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Photo: TNS

Published: 7:18pm, 18 Nov 2024Updated: 8:17pm, 18 Nov 2024

US president-elect Donald Trump has chosen Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as its chair, he said in a statement.

Carr has served at the agency since 2012, including as an adviser to a later chair, Ajit Pai, and has worked as its general counsel. Trump during his first presidency nominated Carr to the FCC in 2017.

“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms, and held back our Economy,” Trump said in a statement.

The commission, an independent agency overseen by Congress, regulates interstate and international communications and implements and enforces US communications law and regulations.

In a statement after Trump’s election victory, Carr highlighted his priorities, saying that the agency should have “an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth.”

He reiterated those points in a chapter for the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 manifesto seeking to influence policy in the second Trump administration.