President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Brendan Carr to lead the Federal Communications Commission in his second administration, elevating the Republican official who has been outspoken about his support for Elon Musk’s businesses, suggesting a potential financial benefit for Musk if he is confirmed.
Elon Musk listens as President-elect Donald Trump addresses a House Republicans Conference meeting ... [+]
Carr, who already serves as one of five FCC commissioners, has been named to become the chair of the commission, which manages telecommunications like radio, television and the internet.
Carr is a Republican who has long pushed a more conservative vision for the FCC, claiming in recent days he wants to “dismantle” a “censorship cartel” biased against Trump, “rein in the administrative state”—referring to regulatory agencies and decisions that Republicans believe are too far-reaching—and abolish diversity initiatives, among other proposals.
He has also regularly spoken out in favor of Musk and his companies—particularly Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX that provides satellite internet services—accusing the Biden administration of “regulatory harassment” against Musk’s companies in 2023 and writing a letter to the Brazilian government in September, describing its threat to outlaw Starlink and the country’s ban on Musk-owned social media company X as “apparently unlawful and partisan political actions.”
Musk’s companies do extensive business with the federal government and Starlink stands to financially benefit from a friendly FCC leader, after the company previously lost out on $885 million in rural broadband subsidies under the agency’s current Democrat-controlled board.
Carr has suggested he would take a more positive stance toward Starlink as FCC chair, telling Politico in October he thinks “it would be fair to get [Starlink] back” into the agency’s broadband program.
Carr has also proposed imposing more rules on big tech companies—like forcing them to be more transparent and limiting when social media companies are shielded from legal liability—that could affect X, and it remains to be seen how Carr would handle the Musk-owned company versus its competitors.
Carr downplayed his alliance with Musk to Politico, saying his social media posts praising the billionaire are “pretty consistent with what I’ve done for the last four years.” The commissioner also claimed he’s more interested in boosting satellite broadband more broadly than wanting to benefit Starlink specifically.
“Great choice,” Musk said on X Sunday after Carr’s nomination was announced, going on to congratulate Carr and praise several of Carr’s tweets about his proposals for the FCC, such as calling to “dismantle the censorship cartel” and abolish the agency’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion.
The role of FCC chair is subject to Senate confirmation, so Carr won’t be able to lead the FCC without a majority of senators voting to confirm him—though given the Senate’s impending Republican majority, he’s likely to pass.
The FCC’s Democratic majority denied Starlink’s bid to provide rural broadband coverage because it determined the company “had not shown that it was reasonably capable of fulfilling [the] requirements to deploy a network of the scope, scale, and size required,” which would have involved providing internet coverage in more than 600,000 locations in 35 states. The agency discovered “numerous financial and technical deficiencies” in Starlink’s application, and ruled it did not show adequate evidence that its internet speeds were fast enough to fulfill the program’s requirements. Starlink appealed the FCC’s initial decision, but the agency then rejected the appeal as well.
Carr has also raised eyebrows for his involvement with Project 2025, the extreme right-wing policy agenda for a second Trump term spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups. Carr wrote Project 2025’s chapter on the FCC, calling for the agency to “change course” and focus on reining in big tech and promoting national security. The chapter proposes passing legislation similar to state laws that punish social media companies for banning or suspending users based on their “viewpoints,” as well as overhauling the legal protections for social media companies and calling for companies to help pay the government’s fund for internet services in low-income, high-cost and rural communities. Carr’s chapter also supports a ban on TikTok, even as Trump has expressed support for the social media app. Trump has publicly distanced himself from Project 2025 and alleged he has nothing to do with it, and Carr’s nomination comes after reports suggested Trump’s transition team could blacklist people involved with Project 2025 from serving in the second Trump administration.
Musk became one of Trump’s biggest allies in the runup to the election, serving as an outspoken supporter of the ex-president and spending millions to help elect him. Trump rewarded Musk by naming him and billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy to run a new “Department of Government Efficiency” to rein in government spending, which will operate outside of the formal government structure. The FCC is one of a number of federal agencies where Musk’s companies stand to benefit from a change in power: The New York Times reports there have been at least 20 recent government investigations or reviews into Musk’s businesses, including by the Departments of Transportation, Justice, Labor, Interior and Agriculture, and agencies including the National Labor Relations Board, Environmental Protection Agency and Securities and Exchange Commission. His companies have also benefited financially from the federal government, with The Times reporting that just Tesla and SpaceX alone have been awarded at least $15.4 billion in government contracts. Carr is one of a number of appointments Trump has made in recent days that have made waves, along with controversial nominees like former Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general, Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as health secretary.
FCC Commissioner Wrote A Project 2025 Chapter—Democrats Want Him Investigated Over It (Forbes)
The DC bureaucrat who could deliver billions to Elon Musk (Politico)
U.S. Agencies Fund, and Fight With, Elon Musk. A Trump Presidency Could Give Him Power Over Them. (New York Times)