For four years, FCC chairman Brendan Carr warned publicly and often about the national-security risks of TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance. He appeared on cable news almost weekly to discuss potential propaganda and data concerns tied to Chinese ownership.
Now, according to Techdirt, the same FCC has rubber-stamped major Saudi and Chinese investment in the Paramount merger. The report frames this as a striking reversal, suggesting the earlier alarm over ByteDance did not reflect a consistent policy on foreign ownership.
The source notes the contrast directly, calling the approval "America Last" in its headline. No official explanation from the FCC is included in the source, but the implication is that political or commercial interests may have outweighed the stated security concerns.