The Walt Disney Company and its broadcast subsidiary ABC filed a federal lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, accusing the agency of executing a retaliatory campaign to intimidate the network over content President Donald Trump dislikes.
The 45-page complaint, submitted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asks a judge to block the regulator from forcing eight Disney-owned local stations into early broadcast license renewals. The network called the agency’s pressure an “existential threat” to free speech.
The conflict stems from an April order by FCC Chair Brendan Carr, who accelerated the review of licenses for ABC stations in major markets including New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. Those licenses were not scheduled for renewal until October 2028.
According to the filing, the agency had not ordered an early renewal review in more than 50 years.
Disney claims the regulatory intervention came in direct response to demands from the White House. The move arrived one day after Trump publicly called for ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to be fired following a joke regarding the first lady.
The agency officially cited an inquiry into Disney’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, alongside compliance with public-interest standards. But Disney’s legal team characterized that rationale as a pretext meant to mask targeted censorship.
“Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” the network wrote in its complaint.
The suit highlights repeated statements from Trump targeting broadcast operations. Just last month, the president urged regulatory action against ABC after the network chose not to broadcast a prime-time speech on election integrity.
The network argued that regulatory pressure has already had a chilling effect on its operations. Disney noted that daytime political talk show “The View” stopped inviting political candidates to appear in February after the regulator signaled potential equal-time enforcement actions.
“Disney is entirely justified in asking a court to stop the FCC’s attempt to coerce its broadcast stations’ programming,” said Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. “The First Amendment prohibits the government from using regulatory threats to chill speech that the government doesn’t like.”
The regulatory body pushed back against the court action.
“Disney is obviously very concerned about the FCC’s proceeding, as evidenced by their ongoing campaign of disinformation,” an FCC spokesperson said Tuesday. “The FCC will continue to follow the facts and law wherever they lead.”
Disney has requested an immediate temporary restraining order to stop the license review before formal administrative hearings begin.
