• by Wendy Davis , March 20, 2026

Civil rights advocates are blasting Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr over threats to broadcasters -- including his recent warning on X that they could lose their licenses for airing "hoaxes and news distortions."

The threats "rest on no statutory authority and no legitimate government interest," groups including TechFreedom, Free Press and American Civil Liberties Union, as well as former FCC officials and academics said Friday in a letter to Carr.

"The Communications Act explicitly denies the Commission any 'power of censorship' or power to 'interfere with the right of free speech,'" the watchdogs write.

The letter comes almost one week after Carr issued a warning to broadcasters that air so-called "fake news."

"Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions -- also known as the fake news -- have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up," Carr tweeted.

"The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not," he added.

He tweeted the threat in response to President Donald Trump's Truth Social post criticizing a headline regarding an Iranian strike on Air Force planes at a base in Saudi Arabia. Trump complained in the post about what he calls the "Fake News Media."

The letter accuses Carr of weaponizing the "public interest" standard against viewpoints that he and Trump don't like. (The "public interest" language in Carr's tweet comes from the Communications Act, which tasks the FCC with administering licenses "in the 'public convenience, interest, or necessity.'")

"The reporting President Trump complains about is editorializing protected by the First Amendment," the signatories wrote. "It is not remotely subject to the FCC’s rule against broadcast hoaxes."

The watchdogs added that Carr's "conception of 'fake news,' 'news distortion' and the 'public interest'" is unconstitutionally vague.

Among other requests, the free speech advocates are urging Carr to withdraw any pending threats, and to rescind recent guidance regarding the "equal time" rule.

That rule generally requires broadcasters that give a candidate free air time to also offer free air time to the candidate's opponents. The rule has exemptions for "bona fide" newscasts, interviews and documentaries, and since at least 1984 the FCC has applied that exception to talk shows.

But the FCC said in guidance issued in January that decisions regarding exceptions are "fact specific," and suggested that broadcasters should ask the agency's Media Bureau to determine in advance whether particular programs are exempt from the equal time rule.

The watchdogs say that guidance invites "arbitrary enforcement" and will discourage broadcasters from airing interviews with candidates.

"Whether broadcasters seek pre-clearance or not, their speech will be significantly chilled," the letter states.

Carr's threat over so-called "fake news" is just the latest controversial move by him.

Last month, for instance, he said the agency was investigating whether ABC's "The View" violated the equal time rule by broadcasting an interview with Texas State Rep. James Talarico, who was then seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

Several days later, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) criticized the agency for engaging in a "partisan censorship scheme" that "ignores Americans’ fundamental freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment."

Blumenthal specifically accused Carr of harassing broadcasters for "critical coverage of President Trump."

The lawmaker noted in letters to the agency's media and enforcement bureaus that the FCC's interpretation of the equal time rule, as set out in the January guidance, was at odds with more than 40 years of precedent that exempted talk shows from the rule's requirements.