WASHINGTON, D.C. — There could be sweeping changes to how the federal government regulates social media like Facebook and YouTube with President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
Last week, Trump picked Brendan Carr to chair the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Carr wrote in Project 2025 that the FCC should restrict immunity from Section 230, part of a law that says tech companies are not liable for what a user posts.
"Today, a handful of corporations can shape everything from the information we consume to the places we shop," Carr wrote in the document. "These corporate behemoths are not merely exercising market power, they are abusing dominant positions."
Carr wrote the government should tamp down on a business’s ability to “censor protected speech while maintaining their Section 230 protections.”
In 2015, WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and her photographer Adam Ward were shot and killed by a disgruntled employee.
The shooting was broadcast live across Southwest Virginia, and the video remains on social media despite the family’s efforts and requests to take it down.
Alison’s father, Andy Parker, has fought to remove video of his daughter’s murder from the internet for nearly a decade.
He sought the Democratic nomination in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District in 2022 while running on a platform to honor “Alison’s life through action,” he wrote in a tweet.
Parker also shared his story during a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Google and its censorship policy in 2019.
In an interview with CBS 6, Parker said Project 2025 “should scare the hell out of everybody.”
CBS News reported that Project 2025 is overseen by the conservative Heritage Foundation, the multi-pronged initiative that includes a detailed blueprint for the next Republican president to usher in a sweeping overhaul of the executive branch.
“[Carr] is suggesting that he wants to do something to amend the liability portion of Section 230. I guess at the end of the day, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Now, I don't think he is doing it for the same reasons I am,” Parker stated.
Supporters of Section 230 said that the law protects an individual’s right to express themselves freely on the internet. Experts believe a repeal would greatly impact how big tech platforms operate.
Parker chastised social media companies that earn ad revenue from the video of his daughter’s killing while using algorithms to highlight the video in front of a user without searching for the video.
CBS 6’s Brendan King noted that he saw the murder video in a compilation video on the YouTube app without actually searching for the footage.
Parker said social media companies already have the ability to remove videos from their platforms, much like they do with copyrighted music, movies, and TV shows.
“While I've not seen the video, in my mind and in my imagination, I see it all the time. I see it every day and it's horrible,” Parker recalled. “Knowing that it's still sitting there like a booby trap for people — it’s unconscionable. That's why I want to get it removed.”
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