STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER CARR ON WHITE HOUSE EXECUTIVE ORDER 

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2021—Today, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr issued the following statement in response to President Biden’s announcement of an Executive Order on “Promoting Competition in the American Economy.”  Among other steps, the Executive Order would encourage the FCC to reverse course on its approach to Internet regulation.

“While I welcome the Executive Order’s goal of addressing the concentration of corporate power in Silicon Valley, the Order’s FCC provisions represent a big gift to Big Tech.

“It embraces a backwards-looking, Obama-era approach to Internet regulation—one that would give the lobbyists at Google, Facebook, and Amazon the regulatory protections and price controls they’ve long sought while doing nothing to address Silicon Valley’s threats to free speech and an open Internet.

“The Executive Order also heads down the wrong path when it comes to strengthening competition in the broadband market.  It does not propose actions to further accelerate new infrastructure builds or to free up more spectrum—steps that would represent surefire ways to increase consumer choice.  Instead, the Biden Administration goes in another direction and seems to double down on price controls, government-run networks, and monopoly-style regulations—actions that would only make it harder for smaller providers and new entrants to compete.

“Perhaps one reason why the Executive Order misses the mark is because the document does not follow the facts.  Internet speeds in the U.S. have more than tripled over the last four years.  Competition has increased, prices are down—with The Economist recently ranking the U.S. number one overall in the category of affordability—and the digital divide has been cut nearly in half since 2016.

“While we remain far from the finish line in our efforts to eliminate the digital divide, it is time to double down on the policies that are delivering these results, not abandon them.”

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Office of Commissioner Brendan Carr
www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/brendan-carr
Media Contact:  Danielle Thumann
(202) 418-0376 or danielle.thumann@fcc.gov