FCC Chair focuses on eliminating corporate DEI

On July 8, 2025, T-Mobile notified Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr that it would be rolling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program so the FCC would approve the company’s proposed merger with US Cellular Corp.’s wireless operations and its purchase of the fiberoptic internet service provider Metronet. On July 10, the FCC and the Department of Justice (DOJ) cleared the merger.

Carr eliminated DEI at FCC

On January 21—the day after President Trump issued his Executive Order 14151, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing”—Carr announced that he was ending the FCC’s promotion of DEI, and he quickly began announcing investigations into corporations over which the FCC has authority.

In addition, Carr began pressuring corporations that had mergers or other acquisitions over which the FCC had jurisdiction to eliminate their DEI programs if they wanted them to be approved.

Carr challenges corporate DEI programs