Trump selects Big Tech critic as FCC head

US president-elect Donald Trump selects Big Tech critic as FCC head, Brendan Carr, as the next chairman of the communications regulator, positioning him as a warrior of free speech who will end the regulatory onslaught said to be currently in place.

Carr is the senior Republican commissioner at the FCC, which is currently led by Jessica Rosenworcel. She took over from Ajit Pai in 2021 following the change of US administration.

The appointment was widely expected, with analysts spoken to by Mobile World Live earlier this month predicting deregulation would be the order of the day for the FCC under Carr.

In a statement on Trump’s Truth Social platform the president-elect highlighted the commissioner’s long service at the FCC, with Carr having worked with the agency since 2012 before being nominated a commissioner in 2017.

The president-elect noted Carr had “fought against the regulatory lawfare that has stifled Americans’ freedoms, and held back our economy” claiming the “regulatory onslaught” had been “crippling” job creators and innovators.

He also referenced a need to ensure the agency delivers for rural areas.

In a series of posts on X Carr said he was humbled and honoured to take the role, before outlining a number of key priorities.

These comprised dismantling the “censorship cartel and restoring free speech,” enforcing public interest obligations for broadcast media and ending the FCC’s promotion of Diversity Equity and Inclusion policies (DEI).

On DEI, he noted what had been the agency’s “second highest strategic goal” would have its promotion ended next year.

A vocal critic of Big Tech players, earlier this month Carr accused Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft of playing “central roles in the censorship cartel” in a letter where he accused fact-checking groups, website-rating organisation NewsGuard and ad agencies of helping “enforce one-sided narratives”.

The FCC is led by five commissioners appointed by the president and confirmed by the US senate, with the president then selecting one as the chair. A maximum of three from one political party can serve at a time.