ABC began airing advertisements on its local stations Monday, asking viewers for support amid investigations launched by the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission.

The advertising campaign comes as the federal agency pushes investigations into the network’s shows and after the federal agency’s atypical demand in April that stations owned by the network seek early renewal of their broadcast licenses.

“‘The View’ has welcomed your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly 30 years,” one of the ads aired during the daytime talk show said. “Now the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show. Tell the FCC to let the viewers decide.”

“Channel 7 has proudly served you for more than 75 years,” another ad airing on WABC in New York said. “Now the FCC is questioning our commitment to the community. Show your support. You have until July 29 to tell the FCC to keep your trusted local station on the air.”

Viewers are directed to a QR code where they are encouraged to comment on the FCC proceeding by July 6.

The FCC opened an investigation into “The View” in February after it interviewed Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico of Texas. The agency probed the show for possibly violating its equal time rule, which requires broadcast TV and radio stations to provide equal access and opportunities to rival political candidates.

Around the same time, late night host Stephen Colbert said CBS pulled an appearance by Talarico on his “Late Show” over fears it violated the rule. Colbert’s interview with the Texas politician was posted online instead.

One month earlier, the FCC changed a rule that reclassified talk shows. Shows hosting political candidates now generally do not automatically qualify as “bona fide news” programs, which are exempt from the equal time rule.

“This statutory requirement and the corresponding FCC rules seek to ensure that no legally qualified candidate for office is unfairly given less access to the public airwaves than their opponent,” the agency said at the time.

Prior to the change, entertainment programs that occasionally platform political candidates have also been treated as exempt under a 2006 FCC decision that allowed then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s interview on Jay Leno’s “The Tonight Show” to count as a news interview.

ABC said in a filing with the FCC at the time that the agency’s actions could “threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech.”

“Disney and its ABC stations are the latest victims of this administration’s campaign of censorship and control,” said Anna Gomez, the only Democratic FCC commissioner. “I am glad to see them expose the FCC’s actions as nothing more than naked political retribution and an unlawful assault on free speech and a free press.”

In a statement to MS NOW, an FCC spokesperson called the ads “a campaign of misinformation.”

“Disney wants the FCC to classify ‘The View’ as a ‘bona fide news program.’ And it has chosen to run a campaign of misinformation to make its case — misleading viewers about the law,” the spokesperson said. “That is a choice.”

It is not the first time the network has come under scrutiny by the Trump administration. FCC Chair Brendan Carr lambasted late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for comments he made in September following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. At that time, Kimmel accused Trump supporters of “doing everything they can to score political points” from Kirk’s death.

In response to the backlash, ABC and Nexstar Media and Sinclair — two of the country’s largest TV station owners — announced they were suspending “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” After protests of the network over what many deemed as censorship, ABC reversed course and the show returned to air.

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