FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in an interview that there is “a strong argument that” Kimmel’s monologue was “sort of an intentional effort to mislead the American people about a very core fundamental fact.” Carr also pointedly remarked that, “This is a very, very serious issue right now for [ABC parent company] Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
If ABC had taken action against Kimmel solely on its own volition, there would be no First Amendment problem. But given Carr’s remarks, there is strong reason to believe that ABC took action in part to avert his not-so-veiled threat of government action.
https://www.cato.org/blog/government-shouldnt-play-truth-police