Trump FCC Pick Brendan Carr Wants to Police Speech. That is not His Job

President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to head the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, wants to reshape the broadband regulator into the nation’s speech police on social media.

As chairman of the FCC, Carr will set the agency’s agenda on issues such as broadband deployment, net neutrality, and telecom privacy. But since Carr was appointed commissioner in 2017 by Trump, he has spent much of his time focusing on controversial Internet regulations that the agency has historically had no role in. it can be an uphill battle.

In a statement Sunday nominating Carr, Trump called him a “champion of Free Speech” who will “end the attacks that have crippled America’s Job Creators.” Thanking Trump, Carr wrote in X, “We must dismantle the censorship wagon and restore free speech rights to everyday Americans.”

Carr approved a chapter of Project 2025 at the FCC, writing that the agency needs to prioritize issues such as “engaging in Big tech” and “improving national security.” High on his to-do list, Carr says the FCC should issue an order redefining Section 230 to eliminate the “extended” liability it gives to social media. Section 230 is part of the Communications Decency Act passed in 1996, which protects Internet companies from being sued for content that appears on their platforms and gives companies the power to decide what content can and cannot be posted.

But there is no precedent for the FCC’s ruling on online speech, and experts tell WIRED that the agency does not have the authority to act on Trump and Carr’s speech orders.

“This is a strong idea that somehow they can do something about Section 230 at the FCC,” said Chris Lewis, president and CEO at Public Knowledge, a progressive technology advocacy group.

In his Project 2025 writing, Carr specifically argues that companies should allow users to create their own content filters and that platforms should remove illegal user-generated content. Carr has also developed a relationship with X owner Elon Musk, who has also suggested that platforms like his should take down illegal content such as child abuse images. (Carr appeared with Musk and Trump at the SpaceX launch on Tuesday.)

“What he can do and want to do is use his bully pulpit to bully companies that moderate content he doesn’t like,” said Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, a digital rights group. “And if he continues to do that, there’s a good chance he’ll run into the First Amendment, which, contrary to popular belief, is the real thing that protects speech on the Internet.” Section 230 protects social media companies from being sued for content that users post on their platforms, while the First Amendment expressly prohibits the government from interfering with an individual’s ability to speak freely. Over the summer, the Supreme Court ruled that a company’s rating decisions are protected under the First Amendment.