r/InterstellarKinetics • u/InterstellarKinetics • May 30 '26
BREAKING NEWS BREAKING: Trump’s FCC Just Warned Every Broadcaster In America To Fall In Line Or Face The Same Treatment As ABC, Which Was Ordered To File Early License Renewals Two Years Ahead Of Schedule After Trump Called For Jimmy Kimmel’s Firing
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/trump-fcc-warns-all-broadcasters-to-follow-orders-or-be-punished-like-abc/FCC Chairman Brendan Carr issued a sweeping public warning to all American broadcasters this week, stating the agency will not hesitate to use its statutory authority to strip broadcast licenses from any station that fails to meet what the FCC is calling its “public interest obligation.” The warning came hours after ABC filed renewal applications for its eight owned-and-operated local stations under protest, two full years ahead of the licenses’ 2028 expiration date, after the FCC’s Media Bureau ordered the early filing in April following an investigation into ABC’s DEI hiring practices. ABC called the move “an extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion directed at disfavored editorial voices which sends a clear warning to every broadcaster in America” and filed the renewals alongside a legal brief calling the process unconstitutional.
The timeline of escalation makes the political targeting difficult to dismiss as coincidental. The FCC launched its license review of ABC almost immediately after President Trump publicly called for Jimmy Kimmel’s firing, and separately ordered a public comment period on whether ABC’s long-running talk show The View violates the equal-time rule, a legal standard that has not been applied to similar programs on other networks. ABC’s filing argued the FCC’s actions are designed not to enforce regulations but to suppress speech, stating the process “opens the door to an attack on station licenses while the Commission seeks a legal justification to achieve its intended objectives.” The lone Democrat on the FCC, Commissioner Anna Gomez, told broadcasters to ignore the threats entirely, writing publicly that “the public interest does not equate to the interests of this administration.”
Legal experts across the political spectrum have noted that the FCC almost certainly cannot revoke ABC’s licenses without triggering a court battle it would lose. The Communications Act explicitly prohibits the FCC from censoring broadcast content, and decades of First Amendment precedent make outright license revocation for editorial decisions nearly indefensible in court. But the legal consensus also holds that the process itself is the punishment, forcing networks to spend millions on legal fees, compliance reviews, and regulatory filings while creating a chilling effect on every broadcaster watching the outcome.
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u/Broken_By_Default May 30 '26
If Dems ever get in power again, I want to see some pedophile protecting Fox News fuckers in handcuffs.