FCC accused of hiding Chairman Carr's messages with DOGE and Musk

An advocacy group and a journalist accused the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of bad faith and withholding documents related to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on March 12, 2024. Frequency Forward and journalist Nina Burleigh stated in a filing in the US District Court for the District of Columbia that the FCC redefined search criteria without notice and concealed that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr uses the Signal messaging service on a phone for government business. The lawsuit, filed last year, alleges the FCC violated FOIA by wrongfully withholding agency records. In August 2025, a federal judge ordered the FCC to produce documents and criticized its "vague and uninformative" response. The group is investigating the influence of DOGE, a cryptocurrency, on the FCC and Carr's communications, including those potentially involving Elon Musk.