TikTok: President-elect Donald Trump has picked Brendan Carr as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). A longtime critic of Big Tech and an advocate for stricter regulations, he has stated that the FCC has four policy priorities: reining in Big Tech, promoting national security, unleashing economic prosperity, ensuring FCC accountability, and good governance.

Big Tech breakup?

Until now, as the top Republican on the FCC, Carr voiced concerns over monopolistic practices and their negative impact on market competition and free speech. His focus has been on forcing tech giants to be more transparent in their operations, especially in content moderation and manipulating public discourse through algorithms.

Carr noted earlier this year that after Google “manipulates” search results, a small business can see its web traffic drop “precipitously”. He added that on Facebook, social media posts are left up or taken down, and accounts suspended or permanently banned “without any apparent consistency.” Moreover, “out of the blue”, YouTube can “demonetize” individuals, he explained.

One of Carr’s central goals is breaking up Big Tech companies, ensuring they no longer monopolize online interaction between internet users. “Today, a handful of corporations can shape everything from the information we consume to the places we shop. These corporate behemoths are not merely exercising market power; they are abusing dominant positions,” Carr wrote this year.

“It is hard to imagine another industry in which a greater gap exists between power and accountability,” he highlighted.

Section 230 reform: making the giants accountable

The new FCC chair has also been vocal about his desire to reform Section 230, the law that currently shields tech platforms from liability for user-generated content.

Written in 1996, Section 230 was created before social media platforms became widespread. It has allowed companies like X, Facebook, and YouTube to grow mostly unchecked and avoid legal responsibility for the content on their platforms.

“The FCC should issue an order that interprets Section 230 in a way that eliminates the expansive, non-textual immunities that courts have read into the statute,” Carr underscored.

“Congress should do so by ensuring that Internet companies no longer have carte blanche to censor protected speech while maintaining their Section 230 protections,” he continues.

TikTok ban: national security concerns

Carr’s concerns extend beyond the US national tech ecosystem to foreign-owned platforms, particularly TikTok. He has been a vocal critic of Chinese influence on American tech. He has pushed for action against TikTok, citing national security risks related to the app’s ties to the Chinese government.

In December 2022, Carr supported the bipartisan bill passed by Congress to ban TikTok from federal devices, which President Biden later signed into law.

“TikTok’s parent company and its personnel inside China used the app to surveil the locations of journalists that worked on stories highlighting TikTok’s national security risks. TikTok accounts run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda arm targeted and ran misinformation campaigns about specific US politicians ahead of our recent midterm elections, all while TikTok shielded those accounts’ links to the Chinese Communist Party”, he said in a statement.

In July, however, Carr’s boss, Trump, expressed support for TikTok, stating, “because you need competition,” and joined the platform that same month.