The FCC chairman posted the threat on a Saturday afternoon. By Sunday morning, the President was celebrating, a Republican senator was pushing back, and the networks were lawyering up. The question nobody in Washington is answering: who decides what counts as 'fake news'?
Carr just warned broadcasters that they all need to correct course before their licensing renewals come before the FCC.
Trump, of course, was “thrilled” when he heard the news.
Trump has long been after the major news networks for what he deems to be unfair coverage, often encouraging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke their licenses for publishing fake news.
In August 2025, Time reported that Trump had called ABC and NBC a “threat to our democracy, adding, “Why is it that ABC and NBC FAKE NEWS, two of the absolute worst and most biased networks anywhere in the World, aren’t paying Millions of Dollars a year in LICENSE FEES.”
The problem with Trump’s premise, however, is that the FCC does not issue licenses to ABC or NBC, but rather “individual broadcast systems,” such as Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group. Affiliates, such as Fox, ABC, NBC, etc, are then operated under the umbrella of these media groups.
If the licenses for these media groups were revoked or denied, you would see a major battle that would end up before the Supreme Court over the First Amendment. The FCC would have to prove that the media groups knowingly allowed, and were complicit in, affiliate networks operating under their umbrella that purposely published fake news to manipulate the public. Good luck with that.
Carr issued a threat to these media groups recently on X, posting, “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.
“And frankly, changing course is in their own business interests since trust in legacy media has now fallen to an all time low of just 9% and are ratings disasters.”
While this sounds ominous, it is merely a threat, but it is one that Carr is hoping the broadcasters will take very seriously.
These affiliates operate under their umbrella, so ultimately, it is up to them to hold those affiliates accountable when they start publishing misleading or outright fake news. We saw that take place when Jimmy Kimmel was pulled off the air over his comments about the death of Charlie Kirk.
Trump was “so thrilled” by Carr’s announcement, reported the New York Post, but I still don’t believe Trump really understands that he has zero authority to pull ABC or NBC off the air. Either that, or he is just playing ignorant in the hopes of applying pressure to the media groups under which they operate.
Trump then pointed to examples of AI technology being used to push fake videos of attacks against our military during Operation Epic Fury, stating, “They showed phony ‘Kamikaze Boats,’ shooting at various Ships at Sea, which looks wonderful and powerful, and vicious, but these Boats don’t exist. It’s all false information to show how ‘tough’ their already defeated Military is.”
The problem here is that Trump has used AI himself on social media, so the question then comes as to where that line is drawn. Playing devil's advocate, what is the difference in the AI being used by Iran over the AI videos that Trump has put out? Some will say this is apples and oranges, while others will question who the individual is that gets to pick and choose what AI is acceptable to post.
This truly is a slippery slope. Anyone who knows me knows I despise fake news, and I am exhausted by conspiracy theorists. As an example, look at the recent story about Benjamin Netanyahu's death, which was completely fabricated, yet it was blowing up on social media. So, where is that line, and who gets to be the one to draw it?
And realize this… the idea of going after networks that regularly report negatively against Trump and conservatives sounds good when you have a Republican in the White House, but what precedent is being set for when a Democrat is back in there calling the shots?
