FCC Accused of Politically Motivated Censorship Under Trump's Watch

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has been accused of using his power to quash free speech and silence criticism. In September, after ABC's late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about Republicans exploiting the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk for political purposes, Carr threatened to punish ABC affiliates unless they punished Kimmel.

The Walt Disney Company and its subsidiary, the ABC television network, initially caved to the pressure and suspended Kimmel's show indefinitely. However, after a public backlash, they lifted the suspension.

But that wasn't the end of it. In April, another anti-President Donald Trump joke by Kimmel provoked Carr into censorship mode again. This time, the FCC ordered all eight Disney-owned local ABC television stations to undergo early broadcast license reviews under the pretext of an ongoing investigation into ABC's diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

However, the irony is that this is the closest precedent to this occurred in the 1970s when the FCC forced an early review and eventually stripped the license of a radio broadcaster in Mississippi for failing to serve its local Black audience.

On August 18, Disney and ABC filed a federal First Amendment lawsuit against the FCC accusing it of waging a politically motivated and 'retaliatory campaign' of censorship. Given Trump's and his administration's hostility towards the press, it's difficult to see the FCC's actions as anything but retaliatory.