The Voice of Alexandria reports…

An internet rights group on Tuesday raised alarm over reports the United States may steer billions of dollars to Elon Musk’s Starlink by making changes to a rural broadband deployment program.

Net neutrality supporter Free Press spoke out after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Commerce could set Musk up for a windfall by overhauling a $42.5 billion program established under former President Joe Biden to bring broadband internet service to rural parts of the country.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has told staff he plans to significantly increase the share of money available to satellite-internet providers such as Starlink rather than firms that use fiber-optic cables to deliver high-speed internet service, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

Starlink is a unit of Musk’s SpaceX company.

Musk — the world’s wealthiest person and a top donor to Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign — has status as a “special government employee” and “senior adviser to the president.”

Trump put Musk in charge of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency that has been slashing the ranks of US agencies under the auspices of budget cutting.

“The Trump administration is undermining an essential bipartisan program designed to bring reliable and affordable broadband to tens of millions of Americans — and it’s doing so just to line Elon Musk’s already bulging pockets,” Free Press co-chief Craig Aaron said in a statement.

The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment.