Mike Masnick
‪@mmasnick.bsky.social‬

Don't want to say I called it, but... you know... sometimes I know what I'm talking about.

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/11/27/brendan-carr-makes-it-clear-that-hes-eager-to-be-americas-top-censor/

Brendan Carr Makes It Clear That He’s Eager To Be America’s Top Censor
When Donald Trump announced that he was appointing current FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to be the next chair of the FCC, it was no surprise. Nor was it a surprise that Trump tried to play up that …
www.techdirt.com
September 18, 2025 at 2:05 AM

Brendan Carr Makes It Clear That He’s Eager To Be America’s Top Censor

from the not-how-any-of-this-works dept
Wed, Nov 27th 2024 01:09pm • Mike Masnick

When Donald Trump announced that he was appointing current FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to be the next chair of the FCC, it was no surprise. Nor was it a surprise that Trump tried to play up that Carr was a “warrior for free speech.”

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.

However, this is all projection, as with so much in the upcoming Trump administration. In reality, Brendan Carr may be the biggest threat to free speech in our government in a long while. And he’s not being shy about it.

Carr is abusing the power of his position to pressure companies to censor speech he disagrees with, all while cloaking it in the language of “free speech.” As an FCC commissioner, he has significant regulatory authority over broadcasters, and he’s wielding that power to push his preferred political agenda. He has no real authority over internet companies, but he’s pretending he does. He’s threatening broadcasters and social media companies alike, telling them there will be consequences if they don’t toe his line.

In this post, we’ll expose the details of Carr’s censorial agenda and the deceptive tactics he’s using to achieve it. Carr may claim to be a “free speech warrior,” but his actions show him to be the exact opposite. He is, as the Verge’s Nilay Patel aptly put it, “the most direct and sustained threat to the First Amendment and the freedom of the press any of us will ever experience.”

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