Government & Communications

Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is now accessible across the White House campus. It is the latest installation of the Wi-Fi network across the government since Mr. Musk joined the Trump administration as an unpaid adviser. It was not immediately clear when the White House complex was fitted with Starlink after President Trump took office for a second term. Starlink terminals, rectangular panels that receive internet signals beamed from SpaceX satellites in low-Earth orbit, can be placed on physical structures.

Evan Feinman, a top Commerce Department official sent a blistering email to his former colleagues on his way out the door warning that the Trump administration is poised to unduly enrich Elon Musk’s satellite internet company with money for rural broadband. The technology offered by Starlink, Musk’s company, is inferior, Feinman warned.

The next phase of Elon Musk’s plan to entangle his companies with the workings of the federal government is well underway. That entails not only President Donald Trump’s photo op with a Tesla in front of the White House but also, surprisingly, the future of your internet connection.

Digital blackouts reached a record high in 2024 in Africa as more governments sought to keep millions of citizens off the internet than in any other period over the last decade. A report released by the internet rights group Access Now and #KeepItOn, a coalition of hundreds of civil society organisations worldwide, found there were 21 shutdowns in 15 African countries, surpassing the existing record of 19 shutdowns in 2020 and 2021. Authorities in Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, and Mauritius joined repeat offenders such as Burundi, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, and Kenya.

Chair Brendan Carr of the Federal Communications Commission, President Donald Trump’s “censure-in-chief,” is waging a war on the First Amendment and freedom of the press by investigating all of the president's perceived enemies and the major media networks, while letting Fox News and Rupert Murdoch off the hook. The selective weaponization of the FCC against media outlets that President Trump dislikes by threatening to revoke their licenses is not only unprecedented and dangerous but also beyond hypocritical.

As it has with other government agencies, the Trump administration is moving swiftly to assert its vision at the Voice of America. As it does so, a question hangs in the air: Is the news organization’s journalistic mission, which dates to World War II, in for some fundamental changes?

Five US Senators wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, raising concerns about reports that Elon Musk’s social media company “X” (formerly Twitter) is leveraging his influential position in the Trump Administration to extract revenue from advertisers. If Musk uses his government position to protect those who engage in business with him—or harm those who do not—then he risks running afoul of criminal ethics laws. The Department of Justice (DOJ) would be responsible for investigating a potential criminal violation of federal ethics laws.

Sens Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) announced the introduction of the Broadcast Freedom and Independence Act, legislation that would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from revoking broadcast licenses or taking action against broadcasters based on the viewpoints they broadcast. The legislation would reaffirm the importance of the independence of the FCC, including that the President should not mandate the FCC’s agenda.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that his department is “ripping out” the “pointless requirements” inserted by former President Joe Biden into a major broadband program that is set to deliver high-speed internet to millions of Americans. Some broadband analysts have shared Lutnick’s frustration with the requirements in BEAD, which has been in planning and contracting for three years.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently suggested that he plans to change the way the government reports data on gross domestic product in order to remove the impact of government spending. His remarks have renewed concerns that the new administration could seek to interfere with federal statistics—especially if they start to show that the economy is slipping into a recession. The basic definition of gross domestic product is widely accepted internationally and has been unchanged for decades.