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The Trump administration is taking an unorthodox approach when it comes to advancing its anti-DEI agenda: Using the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) power over M&A deals to try and force companies to change or abandon their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
The most recent example is T-Mobile, which needs the FCC’s approval to buy almost all of U.S. Cellular’s wireless operations in a deal valued at $4.4 billion, as well as acquiring internet service provider Metronet in a separate deal. Earlier this month, the company agreed to dismantle its DEI programs, announcing plans to eliminate roles focused on DEI, remove references to those policies on its websites, change its supplier programs, and adjust its training materials. The deal was approved just a few days later.
The FCC previously raised concerns to Verizon over its DEI programs when the company was waiting on the agency to approve a $20 billion deal to buy broadband provider Frontier Communications. Verizon responded by sending a May letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, announcing an end to those programs. The very next day, the agency approved the deal, citing the company’s decision to discontinue its DEI initiatives as a key factor.
“Verizon has also committed to ending DEI-related practices as specified in the FCC’s record and has reaffirmed the merged entity’s commitment to equal opportunity and nondiscrimination,” Chairman Carr wrote in the decision. “This will ensure that the combined business will enact policies and practices consistent with the law and the public interest.”
And in February, Paramount announced that it had decided to pull back on various DEI programs in order to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning the practice, the New York Timesreported. The company is asking the FCC to approve a $8 billion deal with Skydance. The deal is still currently waiting on the greenlight from the agency.
Experts told Fortune that the FCC’s move to pressure companies into dropping their DEI policies is highly unusual. Matters related to discrimination are typically overseen by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), not the FCC, says David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at New York University.
“I think what we’re seeing from this administration is an attempt to be as creative as possible in thinking widely about what other agencies they can bring into this anti-DEI operation,” says Glasgow. “And what other tactics they can use that haven’t been done before.”
You can read more about the FCC’s latest attempts to regulate DEI here.
Brit Morse
brit.morse@fortune.com
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