Since the election, Trump has named only a handful of appointments to serve his administration, making it difficult to grok what a Trump presidency means for many of the complex issues that are dear to Silicon Valley — like immigration, network neutrality, self-driving cars and surveillance.
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Of the 690 positions the incoming administration needs to fill and get confirmed by the Senate, only 30 have been named, according to a tracker run by the Washington Post and the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service.
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And it’s worth noting that the new White House website (now in the hands of the Trump administration) doesn’t say a word about technology policy.
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Still, a look at the few appointments Trump has made, as well as those he brought on to advise his transition efforts, sheds light on what Silicon Valley might expect under a Trump administration.
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Here’s what we know.
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Merger-Friendly Appointments
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ATT’s $85 billion bid for Time Warner is currently under review by the Justice Department.
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And despite what Trump said on the campaign trail against the proposed merger, the individuals Trump picked to oversee the DOJ transition have a history helping large, private companies get their way with U.S. regulatory agencies.
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Under Trump, the Federal Trade Commission, the government agency that tackles antitrust issues, is expected to be led by Sean Reyes, the attorney general of Utah, according to Politico. According to Reyes’s bio, he formerly offered legal services to Fox Business News and was a partner at Accelerate Ventures, meaning Reyes has experience working for the interest of investors and media companies.
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The FCC is often tasked with approving media mergers, and Ajit Pai, the current FCC commissioner who is expected to be appointed chairman of the agency, also has an industry-friendly track record. He voted, for example, against Charter’s attempt to buy Time Warner Cable on the grounds that…