Brendan Thomas Carr (born January 5, 1979) is an American lawyer who has served as a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) since 2017.[7] Appointed to the position by Donald Trump, Carr previously served as the agency's general counsel and as an aide to FCC commissioner Ajit Pai. In private practice, Carr formerly worked as a telecommunications attorney at Wiley Rein.[8]
Carr supports changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and opposes net neutrality protections.[9][10] Carr is noted for his support for banning TikTok on national security grounds.[11][12] He is an opponent of content moderation on digital platforms, saying he would seek to "dismantle the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights".[13][14] He authored a chapter in Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, the blueprint document of Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, which outlines proposed policies for a future Donald Trump administration. In office, Carr has been noted for being unusually vocal about public policy issues for a regulatory appointee, accusing House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff of overseeing a "secret and partisan surveillance machine".[15]
In May 2023 President Joe Biden renominated Carr for a new term expiring June 30, 2028 and he was confirmed by the Senate on September 30, 2023.[16] In November 2024, Trump selected Carr to lead the FCC, succeeding Jessica Rosenworcel.[17]
Carr joined the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a legal advisor to commissioner Ajit Pai. In this capacity, Carr advised on wireless, public safety, and international issues. In January 2017, Carr became general counsel of the FCC.[19]
First Trump administration
President Donald Trump nominated Carr to become a commissioner of the FCC in June 2017, and Carr was confirmed by the United States Senate in August 2017.[20] Carr was renominated to a full five-year term by President Trump in 2018 and confirmed by Congress on a voice vote on January 2, 2019. His initial term ran from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2023.[21]
As a member of the FCC, Carr has been noted for being unusually vocal about public policy issues for a regulatory appointee. While in office, Carr accused House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff of overseeing a "secret and partisan surveillance machine". Carr argued in 2020 that the World Health Organization was "beclowned" in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[15]
In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, Carr publicly accused social media platforms of being biased against the Trump reelection campaign. During an on-air interview with Lou Dobbs Tonight on Fox News, Carr stated that, "Since the 2016 election, the far left has hopped from hoax to hoax to hoax to explain how it lost to President Trump at the ballot box."[22]
In November 2022, Carr travelled to Taipei, Taiwan, to attend meetings on cybersecurity and telecommunications matters. In doing so, he became the first member of the agency to visit the island in an official capacity.[26] In 2023, Carr criticized the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) broadband funding program, which he argued gave undue preference to fiber.[27]
In May 2023 President Joe Biden renominated Carr for a new term expiring June 30, 2028 and he was confirmed by the Senate on September 30, 2023.[28]
Second Trump administration
On January 22, Trump FCC chair Carr revived three of four investigations into claims of bias brought against CBS, ABC, and NBC—not Fox News—which Democratic chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel had dismissed the previous week.[29]
In 2023, Carr authored the chapter on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 book, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.[32][33] In the chapter, Carr proposes "reining in Big Tech" as one of the main goals for the FCC.[34]
TikTok
A critic of TikTok, Carr has accused the platform of harming users and undermining national security, and has referred to TikTok as "digital fentanyl".[35] Carr has said that parents whose children use the application should be concerned with their privacy.[36] The FCC has no authority to regulate online content and platforms like TikTok, and has limited powers to restrict or ban speech.[37] In a November 2022 interview with Axios, Carr reiterated that he believes the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) should ban TikTok.[38]
Apple and antitrust issues
In June 2022, Carr wrote an open letter urging Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their respective app stores, arguing the platform poses a security risk.[39] Carr privately wrote a letter to Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, where he urged the DOJ to scrutinize Apple and Google's handling of TikTok on their app stores.[40] In 2024, Carr advocated for an investigation into Apple over the company's shutdown of Beeper Mini, an application that brought iMessage compatibility to Android phones.[41]
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