President-elect Donald Trump has chosen a familiar face as the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission: Brendan Carr, the agency's senior Republican commissioner.
The appointment of Carr, who has worked with the FCC since 2012, is likely to change its direction, given Carr's public stances on issues including net neutrality, whether the video service TikTok should be shut down and the government's role in regulating social-media companies such as Meta and X.
Carr would take over from acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. In 2023, she proposed to restore net neutrality rules that mandate internet service providers treat all data traffic equally, without throttling or speeding up websites or services based on payments from companies or other priorities.
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"I am humbled and honored to serve as Chairman of the FCC," Carr wrote Sunday on X, "now we get to work." Carr posted the Trump announcement, which referred to him as the designated "permanent Chairman."
Carr has been a vocal critic of tech companies including Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft, calling them a "censorship cartel," and vowing in a chapter of conservative governance manifesto Project 2025Â (PDF) to take those companies on.
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According to The Washington Post, Carr has been a supporter of Tesla founder Elon Musk and supports tougher restrictions on China.
Carr has also said that he supports a total ban on the Chinese-owned video service TikTok in the US, although Trump has indicated recently that his administration may save the service.