Carr Draws Attention for China, Free Press Comments; Some See Politicization

Carr told us during a Thursday press call that his recent media exposure is due to “a confluence of" relevant issues involving the pandemic, China and free speech “hitting at the same time.” Carr has tweeted at least 45 times about China, including 22 in April and 13 in March. Some comments focused on the FCC’s inquiry into how the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998) would affect FCC proceedings under new supply chain rules designating Chinese telecom equipment makers Huawei and ZTE as posing a national security threat (see 2003130083).

Other Carr comments deal with evaluating whether to revoke some Chinese firms’ U.S. authorizations for international telecom services. Last week, he referenced those reviews in a tweet saying “Communist China intends to spy on Americans and U.S. businesses to gain an economic & national security advantage. If we cannot trust you, you are not welcome in our telecom networks.” The FCC issued show cause orders Friday against the U.S. branches of China Telecom, China Unicom, ComNet and Pacific Networks (see 2004240046). China' U.S. embassy didn't comment.

Carr wrote House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in March, claiming the committee was collecting call records “of private citizens and government officials alike through a secret and partisan process that deprives Americans of their legal right to maintain the privacy of this sensitive information” under Communications Act Section 222. That process “raises a number of serious questions,” including “whether Americans are comfortable with one political party in Congress having the power to secretly obtain and expose the call records of any private citizen, journalist, or government official,” Carr said. The subpoenas “effectively evade even the potential for Americans to vindicate their legal rights.” House Intelligence, the House Commerce Committee and the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., didn’t comment.

Speaking about communist governments and China’s actions “dovetails” with Carr's FCC work because the agency is actively gauging how much influence the regime has over Chinese telecom companies, Carr said Thursday. “The trustworthiness” of the Chinese government and Chinese companies “is the question before us,” he said. The Chinese government's lying about COVID-19 is “highly relevant to my job at the FCC,” Carr told The Epoch Times in a recent interview, during which he criticized the World Health Organization and what he called previous presidential administrations’ “weak and timid” foreign policy.

Some of Carr’s comments were criticial of the Chinese government's crackdowns amid COVID-19. Foreign Ministry of China spokesperson Lijian Zhao blocked the commissioner on Twitter earlier this month amid the recurring criticisms (see 2004140022). “I’ve long been a very firm believer in free speech and the First Amendment,” Carr said Thursday. He said it’s “natural” for him to speak out about free speech, and that’s why he has been vocal about the Free Press petition and China’s suppression of news about COVID-19. Carr said numerous outlets contacted him after his tweets about the Free Press petition and online interactions with Chinese government officials. He said he was “happy” to use those platforms to discuss China and free speech.

Some officials compared Carr’s recent appearances in right-leaning media outlets like Breitbart to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s recent letter to Trump telling the president that “that only you personally, with your unique ability to cut through the bureaucratic stonewalling, can free the necessary spectrum bands” for 5G (see 2004090047). Both efforts could be seen as attempting to court the president’s favor, one official said. O'Rielly's letter is in line with his past efforts to “jump start conversations about what the next spectrum pipeline should look like,” said O’Rielly aide Joel Miller in an email. “There’s really only one arbiter that can compel federal users to come to the table, and that’s of course the White House.” O’Rielly “is seeking the President’s help in moving these conversations forward.”

O’Rielly has also tweeted critically of China and international politics in recent weeks, tying the WHO’s behavior to the ITU. “Anti-American approach is no longer going to be permitted," O’Rielly said about an article that concerned White House cuts in aid to WHO. "What appropriately happens to WHO can happen to other international organizations that kowtow" to foreign nations. “The WHO conversation has been interesting for its relevance in furthering the arguments that Mike has been making about these other international organizations for some time," Miller said.

Criticism

Free Press co-CEO Jessica Gonzalez sees Carr’s comments on the group’s petition differently. Carr “has proved himself to be far more partisan than he needs to be” on matters like the FP request, Gonzalez told us. “I was super disappointed in his reaction. I think he treated this as a political game instead of … a serious attempt to make sure that the broadcast of misinformation does not lead to loss of life.” Carr can “disagree about what we asked for and do it in a professional way,” she said. “I would still disagree with him, but I could respect that more than what he did, which was to go out and consort with Breitbart and a bunch of trolls and make this into a political thing.”

Gonzalez didn’t want to attach particular motives to Carr’s recent commentary: “I’m not in his head.” But she noted “some would say he’s trying out for [FCC] chairman and the more wild and bombastic one is, the more one seems to attract the affections” of Trump. Several communications industry officials and FCC watchers told us they see Carr’s media blitz and comments invoking common right-wing media targets such as George Soros or communism as a campaign for the chairmanship. Carr laughed and didn’t directly respond when asked about that Thursday, pointing again to the coincidence of recent free speech-related FCC issues. Carr’s current level of exposure is likely to die down soon, he said.

During a disaster like COVID-19, “a commissioner needs to be focused on the tremendous communications issues under FCC purview,” said former FCC Commissioner Mike Copps, now with Common Cause. “These are more than enough to keep anyone fully occupied without ranging afield from their duties, especially into the maelstrom of political controversy.”

The FCC is more political today and “election year politics and Covid-19 societal anxiety has fueled it that much more,” said Fletcher Heald media lawyer Francisco Montero: “But we are in a time when even the U.S. census or a global pandemic are not immune from party politics.” Carr doesn’t “necessarily wear” his politics “on his arm sleeve the way other commissioners have in the past, but if you listen it's there,” Montero said. “With an election looming it is not uncommon for agency commissioners to reflect on a heightened role for themselves in the administration should their party win the White House.”

Defense

Carr is “a true telecom professional,” Phoenix Center President Larry Spiwak told us: “He has worked his way up the ranks. He understands this business. … He’s had some really major accomplishments.” What people do on Twitter “is up to them,” Spiwak said.

Carr’s outreach “feels consistent with the free-for-all mode parts of this administration have been in for some time now,” said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Broadband and Spectrum Policy Director Doug Brake.

R Street Institute Tech Policy Manager Tom Struble said the record shows Chairman Ajit Pai is by “far the most active” tweeter among commissioners, followed by Jessica Rosenworcel and then Carr. Struble understands “why people might infer some sort of political motivation” from Carr’s tweets on China, especially in an election year. “Those sorts of Machiavellian political theories make for interesting gossip," he said. “In reality there's little truth."

Carr is "an argumentative guy" given his background as a lawyer and former FCC general counsel, Struble said: “If someone picked a fight with him about China on Twitter I can see why he wouldn't just let it go, especially in the age we're living in where politicians and other public figures regularly use Twitter and other social media platforms to share their views in real time. If officials' communications were still limited to just press releases and carefully scripted speeches, we'd get a lot fewer communications.”