Big Tech didn’t like Biden. Trump won’t be any better for Google & Co

Trump’s nominee to run the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), current commissioner Brendan Carr, plans an assault on the companies from a different direction.

Carr, who wrote the chapter on the FCC for the “Project 2025” wishlist for the Trump administration compiled by conservative think tanks ahead of the election, wants to “dismantle the censorship cartel” and has taken aim at Section 230 – “the 26 words that created the internet” – which gives platforms immunity from liability for most content posted by users of their platforms.

If they lost that immunity or if it were more limited, and they faced potential liability for comments on the billions of posts they upload daily, the business model of social media platforms could be destroyed.

They would argue – and even some Republicans would begrudgingly support them – that limiting their ability to choose what’s posted on their platforms would be an assault on their own First Amendment rights to free speech.

In his contribution to Project 2025, Carr said a handful of companies could 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,” he said. “They are not simply prevailing in the free market; they are taking advantage of a landscape that has been skewed – in many cases by the government – to favour their business models over those of their competitors.”

The big tech companies face a potentially even more disruptive, aggressive and unpredictable administration than the one it will displace.

Carr’s primary concern is what he sees as censorship of postings by the platforms, a top-of-mind issue for Republicans ever since social media companies screened user content for disinformation in the lead-up to the 2021 election and Trump was “de-platformed” after the January 6 invasion of the Capitol.

Even before Trump nominated him, Carr wrote to the chief executives of Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet and warned them he believed they were improperly censoring some (presumably conservative) viewpoints and said the new administration could review their activities.

He wants the FCC to clarify its interpretation of Section 230 and support legislation that prevents platforms from censoring contributions. He also wants to be able to punish television broadcasters if they don’t conform to his notion of the public interest, even as he advocates deregulation of broadcasting and telecommunications.

When Kamala Harris appeared on Saturday Night Live, he said it was a breach of the FCC’s “equal time” rule and that the FCC should consider penalising NBC (even though the FCC doesn’t regulate the networks, only their affiliates). Trump himself has said the licences of TV news organisations whose coverage he dislikes should be revoked.

Carr also wants to force big tech companies to contribute to America’s $US9 billion Universal Service Fund, currently funded by telecommunications companies.

The FCC also regulates satellites, and Carr wants to speed up the approval process for launches and has argued in favour of grants of hundreds of millions of dollars to Elon Musk’s Starlink business. Carr is regarded as having a close relationship with Musk, who has his own big role to play in the Trump administration, one riddled with other potential conflicts of interest.

The antitrust actions against Google, like almost all the actions against the big tech companies in the US and Europe, will take years to reach any real conclusion.

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Google has already said it will appeal against Judge Mehta’s judgement, as its peers have against adverse findings in court cases in the US and European Commission decisions in Europe. Its issues may not be resolved within the life of the new administration, given that Mehta won’t hand down his ruling on penalties until August next year.

In the meantime, where they might normally have expected Republican dominance of the White House and Congress to produce a more pro-business environment, the big tech companies face a potentially even more disruptive, aggressive and unpredictable administration than the one it will displace.

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