Carr Says FCC Will Block Mergers Over DEI
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday that the FCC won’t approve mergers and acquisitions for companies with diversity, equity and inclusion policies, according to Bloomberg. He also met with a conservative influencer Wednesday who has been involved in online campaigns against corporate diversity policies.
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“If there’s businesses out there that are still promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination, I really don’t see a path forward where the FCC could reach the conclusion that approving the transaction is going to be in the public interest,” Carr told Bloomberg Friday. Asked about Carr's comments Friday, an FCC spokesperson told us Carr "has been clear that he expects regulated businesses to end any invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”
The chairman has sent letters to Comcast and Verizon announcing FCC investigations of their DEI policies, and the Center for American Rights has called for a similar investigation into CBS parent company Paramount Global (see 2502200023). Verizon is seeking FCC approval of its purchase of Frontier, and Skydance needs the agency's nod on its Paramount acquisition. Paramount and Verizon didn't comment.
Responding to Carr's quote Friday via email, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez told us: "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion business practices are not discriminatory. They are about fairness.” Any merger review by the FCC "should follow our standards and not be guided by partisan culture wars," she said. American Action Forum's Jeffrey Westling posted Friday, "Congress granted the FCC the authority to review specific transactions and the public interest standard is much broader than what governs the DOJ or even FTC. This isn't how we should do competition policy, but when Congress writes broad standards, the laws can be exploited."
Carr met Wednesday with filmmaker and influencer Robby Starbuck, who led online campaigns against DEI policies, targeting Tractor Supply, Walmart and others and leading to the companies dropping those policies. “This week I met with our FCC commissioner @BrendanCarrFCC to discuss ways that the FCC can use enforcement power to eliminate DEI from major telecom companies,” Starbuck posted on X Thursday. “Good luck with the FCC if you’re a woke company… You’re gonna need it.” Carr congratulated Starbuck “for the success he’s had ending DEI across corporate America” in a post Thursday. “And I want to thank Robby for sharing his insights and expertise with me and my team as the FCC works to root out this invidious form of discrimination.”
Starbuck told us via email that his advice to Carr was “centered around using every tool in the FCC’s toolbox to eradicate DEI in all of its forms.” If companies overseen by the FCC “want to do business as usual,” then they “should be expected to fall into rapid compliance with President Trump’s Executive Orders and long-standing anti-discrimination laws that prohibit discrimination against ALL races, including discrimination against White employees,” Starbuck said.
Earlier this month, Starbuck took credit for causing AT&T to end diversity policies. Asked about his claims, an AT&T spokesperson said: "Our culture brings together talented individuals with different perspectives and backgrounds based on merit, skills, experience, and ability to serve our customers every day.”
"Corporate America needs to stand up against Carr’s bigotry and reject his offensive claims that programs designed to address discrimination are themselves discriminatory," said Free Press co-CEO Craig Aaron in a release. "This is a lie -- as Carr must know. But in his desperate pursuit to please Donald Trump and Elon Musk, Carr is all too willing to traffic in disinformation and undermine civil rights."