See ABC submit to Donald Trump didn’t feel good after paying $15 million to the presidential library and another $1 million in legal fees to settle the suit in a defamation lawsuit against the network. But there’s more to where it came from, and Trump is trying to weaponize the government to settle scores with the media.
I still have Trump pending lawsuit against CBS, alleging that the network interfered with the election by deceptively editing Vice President Kamala Harris’ “60 Minutes” interview to make her look better. He took the case to the Northern District of Texas on a judge’s order. There is only one judge, Matthew Kacsmarik was appointed by President Trump. favorable rules conservative.
But President Trump may not need to pursue the case as aggressively. brendan carr As Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Mr. Carr is now the FCC Commissioner and is a total MAGA. He has made it clear that he sees his job as tracking down President Trump’s enemies. Given that the FCC controls broadcast licenses, it can continue to monitor CBS stations.
The FCC does not license networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC, but it does. have authority via network-owned stations. Andrew Jay Schwartzman, Senior Advisor, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, said: explained Ars Tecnica said the government continues to use the FCC to “deprive broadcasters and other news organizations of the daylight in a nuisance manner” to single out some broadcasters, delay their applications, or prevent them from merging. He said it could be prevented.
Trump doesn’t seem to understand this and seems to think he can just wipe out the network. he has I called CBS. NBC and CNN have licenses revoked for “60 Minutes” interview in October Because it won’t be broadcast His victory speech after the Iowa primary in January led to ABC revoking its broadcast license.unfair” fact-checked in a September debate with Harris.
As a current FCC commissioner and a former telecommunications attorney, Kerr has long been concerned about networks even before he was appointed to run the FCC, even though he knows full well that the FCC cannot simply strip networks off the air. I was starting to complain. After Harris appeared on “Saturday Night Live” just before the election, Carr rushed to Fox Business. threaten NBC. What’s his logic? NBC violated “equal time” rules by not giving President Trump equal airtime. Except, of course, that NBC actually followed the equal time rule and gave Trump free airtime during that weekend’s NASCAR races and “Sunday Night Football.” Somehow, Kerr said, this still merits an FCC investigation, the consequences of which could include revocation of NBC’s broadcast license.
Now that Mr. Carr has been given the top job, he already said He said he wasn’t just going to consider Trump’s hilarious complaints about CBS. He may use this as a basis to block a Skydance-Paramount merger that would involve the transfer of CBS-owned local stations. Kerr told Fox News that he was “fairly confident” that President Trump’s complaints about “60 Minutes” would “likely arise in the context of the FCC’s review of that transaction.” So essentially, if Kerr felt the “60 Minutes” interview wasn’t good enough, he would use it to confuse CBS with something entirely different.
Putting Mr. Carr at the head of the FCC not only gives President Trump the ability to attack broadcast networks. Mr. Carr has already indicated he is eager to become President Trump’s all-purpose attack dog. Just days after the 2024 election, Carr. wrote on The heads of Alphabet (also known as Google), Microsoft, Meta, and Apple said their companies played a key role in the “unprecedented surge in censorship” through things like fact-checking. He said his threats against Big Tech were far from subtle and that he was confident that once Trump and the new Congress took office, they would take action to restore First Amendment rights. said that it may include a review of corporate activities and a third phase. A political party organization that Carr also believes violates the First Amendment.
Interesting fact: FCC There is no actual jurisdiction Via social media platforms or other similar web services. But Carr, the author of Project 2025 on the FCC, is keen to expand the FCC’s powers, including Chapter 230, which currently provides broad immunity for content published on social networking sites. I would like to abolish the clause. Under the Carr administration, the FCC Let me decide Whether social media companies are moderating in “good faith.”
What you need to know about Carr’s ideology can be gleaned from the fact that his threatening letter omits one social media company, the cesspool company X, formerly known as Twitter. Carr loves X. This is where he posts about the demolition of “X”.censorship cartel” threatens CBS. a little moreand to insult He praised the Federal Aviation Association for having the courage to study the environmental impact of X company owner Elon Musk’s SpaceX proposal.
Mr. Carr is also very keen to donate even more tax dollars to his friend Mr. Musk. complain FCC revokes $885 million in subsidies for Musk’s Starlink because it doesn’t deliver enough to rural families, claims it’s ‘restrictive legislation against one of the left’s top targets’ did.
So this is what the FCC will look like under the Kerr administration in the second Trump administration. Whether the FCC has the authority or not, it’s a weapon Trump can use against companies he doesn’t like.
What’s more, Mr. Carr’s FCC is also likely to rake in cash for the world’s richest man, who happens to run a social media company. bleeding user Because people don’t want to associate with white supremacists or Nazis.
Indeed, if we want the vision of the future that Mr. Carr and Mr. Trump aspire to, it would look a lot like Mr. applied to car Similarly, Journalist’s account suspended They sued companies that displeased him and reported rampant hate speech on their platforms.
Whereas Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump previously had to spend their own money to intimidate journalists and suppress speech, under Carr, the government will do it.
