Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr warned broadcasters against airing fabricated election polls, saying stations could face regulatory scrutiny if they knowingly mislead viewers through false polling data.
The warning follows an admission from Wedgewood Polls that it deliberately fabricated polling numbers in races across the country, raising questions about how news organizations vet political surveys before reporting on them.
Carr criticized journalists and broadcasters for amplifying the results without adequately informing audiences that the polls lacked a legitimate scientific basis.
“Fake Polls and Suppression Polls designed to do nothing more than interfere with the regular functioning of the electoral process and alter the normal patterns of voter turnout and enthusiasm,” Carr said.
“The FCC takes these issues seriously,” he added, noting that broadcasters must comply with federal licensing requirements prohibiting news distortion and broadcast hoaxes.
Wedgewood said Tuesday that it created the fake polls as part of an “experimental project to demonstrate the vulnerabilities, lack of oversight, and overall low barrier to entry in the modern political polling industry.”
The surveys appeared between June and October in several state and congressional races, including contests in Michigan, Georgia, Mississippi, Maine, and Kansas.
“It is important that broadcasters comply with their public interest obligations. After all, the country benefits greatly when Americans can trust and rely on the media to report the news fairly and accurately,” Carr said.
He urged stations to avoid airing polls that could violate their regulatory obligations and said broadcasters could provide additional context to viewers in accordance with FCC rules.
The agency’s authority over news distortion, however, is limited. The FCC has maintained a policy against deliberate news distortion on over-the-air television and radio broadcasts for more than 50 years. The policy does not extend to cable news networks, newspapers, online publications, social media platforms, or streaming outlets.
Enforcement also requires more than an inaccurate report. Under the FCC’s policy, alleged distortion must involve a significant event, and regulators must establish that a broadcaster deliberately distorted factual reporting. Ordinary mistakes, minor inaccuracies, and differences of opinion do not constitute actionable news distortion.
The controversy has already prompted changes at major news organizations. The New York Times removed 15 Wedgewood surveys from its polling tracker after the firm acknowledged fabricating its data Wednesday.
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“This page previously included surveys from Wedgewood Polls,” the newspaper said in an editor’s note. “On Oct. 20, after being questioned by the polling site FiftyPlusOne, Wedgewood released a statement admitting it had fabricated data for its polls. All of Wedgewood’s polls have been removed from our poll tracking project.”
The episode follows a similar disclosure from Median Strategies, which acknowledged over the summer that it had fabricated polls as part of a purported “social experiment.”