What does Project 2025 have to say about broadband regulation?

A new presidential administration will take office in January 2025, ushering in a new era at the Federal Communications Commission. Thanks to Project 2025, we have a unique ability to predict what this will mean for broadband regulation. Project 2025’s 900-page book—the Mandate for Leadership—is a “menu of policy suggestions” from and for American conservative leaders  produced by a group of conservative organizations and spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank credited with guiding some of the Reagan administration’s policy agenda. The BBC described the Mandate for Leadership as a conservative policy “wish list."  A leader with Project 20205 has expressed optimism about working with this incoming administration. The FCC chapter of the Mandate for Leadership, penned by conservative FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, covers goals for broadband under a new administration. If Trump enacts these regulatory suggestions, Project 2025 will usher in a new era of wild West-style deregulation for broadband. The prescriptions for broadband policy follow two major themes: cut down on regulation, and spend fewer taxpayer dollars.

[Abby Simmerman is a doctoral student in the Bellisario College of Communication at Penn State University.]