WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke broadcasters' licenses if stations did not serve the public interest. Carr posted his message on X in response to a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump slamming media coverage of an attack on U.S. air tankers in Saudi Arabia.

"People have gotten used to the idea that, you know, licenses are some sort of property right, and there's nothing you can do that can result in losing their license," Carr said. "I try to sort of help reorient people that, no, there is a public interest, and broadcast is different." He added that "Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions - also known as the fake news - have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up."

"The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not," he said. Carr said there was no imminent effort to reassess broadcast licenses and that "Everyone that complies with the terms of the licenses should feel, you know, very comfortable."

"Anyone that doesn't like, you know, the contours of the licenses, they're fine to take it to cable or to a streaming service, or to turn the license in and do it a different way," he said. "But, you know, there is something unique about being on the broadcast airwaves."

Trump had posted on Truth Social about the attack on U.S. air tankers in Saudi Arabia. "Four of the five had virtually no damage, and are already back in service. None were destroyed, or close to that, as the Fake News said in headlines," Trump wrote. "Lowlife 'Papers' and Media actually want us to lose the War."

Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized Carr's threat. "Constitutional law 101: it's illegal for the government to censor free speech it just doesn't like about Trump's Iran war," Warren said.

The FCC issues eight-year licenses to individual broadcast stations but does not license TV networks such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox. The agency's authority over content standards is limited to over-the-air broadcasts on television and radio and does not include cable networks or streaming platforms.

The FCC says on its website that the "First Amendment and the Communications Act expressly prohibit the Commission from censoring broadcast matter" and that its role in overseeing content on the airwaves is "very limited."