Carr and Free Press Tussle Over Who Threatens Free Speech
Congress should require that the likely next FCC chair, Commissioner Brendan Carr, “commit to protecting free speech and the public interest” because as a sitting commissioner he won't have a Senate confirmation process to lead the agency, and he's “a threat to free speech,” Free Press co-CEO Jessica Gonzalez wrote in an opinion column in The Hill Saturday. Gonzalez highlighted Carr’s public statements on using the FCC news distortion and equal opportunity rules against broadcasters and FCC regulation of social media platforms as evidence that he is a free speech threat. “Talk about Orwellian,” Carr responded in a post on X. “My decision to stand up for the free speech rights of everyday Americans and against the censorship cartel is not the threat, enforced silence is.”
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Carr’s support for enforcing little-used FCC rules against broadcast networks is “a cringeworthy campaign” to appeal to President-elect Donald Trump, Gonzalez wrote. “Carr has shown that he is willing to break with longstanding and bipartisan FCC precedent to punish Trump’s detractors.” She condemned Carr’s recent letter to tech companies about fact-checker NewsGuard (see 2411150032) and his position that the FCC's authority should be expanded to include social media networks as overreaches and violations of the First Amendment. FCC commissioners and chairs “don’t get to invent their own job descriptions, no matter what Carr’s bizarre ideas might suggest,” wrote Gonzalez. NAB and Carr didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Carr reposted Gonzalez’s column Saturday and condemned both it and Free Press. “The radical left used to be able to intimidate people with these through the looking glass attacks,” Carr wrote on X. “Not today. People are increasingly seeing right through these tactics. They know that these groups just want more censorship and increased government control,” Carr said. He pointed to a 2020 Free Press effort to have the FCC investigate COVID-19 disinformation and require broadcasters to air disclaimers warning of “false or scientifically suspect” information in Trump administration news briefings as an example (see 2003260065). “This is insane. Thank God for you (and for X) You literally are the PERFECT PICK!” posted X CEO Linda Yaccarino, under Carr’s post. Carr also blasted Free Press on Saturday over a 2021 petition submitted to the FCC (see 2109150060). The petition contained personal comments that members of the public submitted to Free Press, and one included remarks suggesting Republicans should be shot.
Carr’s responses indicate a misunderstanding of the First Amendment, Gonzalez said in an email Monday. “The First Amendment exists to protect people from government censorship and intrusion,” Gonzalez said. The public statements from Carr, a government official, "indicate he is open to using the power of the government to shut down the speech of broadcasters who question and criticize President-elect Trump.” As a private citizen rather than a government official, Gonzalez is “free to ask the government to advise broadcast licensees not to amplify life-threatening and false assertions, even if they are coming from the president” and “free to speak out against racism, xenophobia, misogyny and other forms of bigotry,” she said. Carr is “responsible for making sure the government does not restrict the speech of private actors, that it does not quash dissent, and that scarce public airwaves aren't used to endanger them,” Gonzalez said. “And I am responsible for holding him accountable to that oath, which is what my piece attempts to do.”