FCC reinstates net neutrality rules

The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to reinstate net neutrality rules, bringing back Obama-era internet regulations that were abandoned in 2017.

Commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of net neutrality, which posits that all lawful data and content on the internet must be treated the same by ISPs. Under the new rules, content providers cannot be charged to have their data prioritized nor can content be subject to intentional blocking or slowdowns. 

With this vote, the FCC now classifies broadband internet as a Title II telecommunications service, and mobile broadband internet as a commercial mobile service. Previously, it had been regulated as a Title I information service, so subject to less agency scrutiny. But now, regulating broadband internet as a utility like a phone service means the FCC can do so more stringently. 

“Broadband is now an essential service,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said. “Essential services, the ones we count on in every aspect of modern life, have some basic oversight.”

Net neutrality opponents on the commission, however, said the measure is fatally flawed. Commissioner Brendan Carr, who opposed the initiative, said arguments in favor of net neutrality were “shifting sands,” and called the ruling a broader symptom of executive branch “pressure campaigns” on independent agencies to have them do their bidding.

“The FCC does not presume to have the sweeping power to refashion Title II into an entirely new legislative scheme by picking and choosing which parts to apply,” Carr said. “The FCC throws whatever it can think of against the wall to see if anything sticks.”

According to an FCC fact sheet, net neutrality rules would protect consumers and give FCC more authority to safeguard national security and public safety, as well as facilitate broadband deployment. The order does not regulate rates, as opponents have alleged, but instead would prohibit “unreasonable interference or unreasonable disadvantage to consumers or edge providers.”

The debate over net neutrality goes back to 2007 when the FCC enforced a complaint against an ISP for throttling bandwidth for customers. In a 2015 decision, the Commission issued network neutrality regulations to protect consumers and prevent ISPs from blocking, throttling or prioritizing network traffic.

Former President Donald Trump and his then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai repealed net neutrality rules in 2017. At the time, Pai said net neutrality’s repeal would help consumers and promote competition in the marketplace.

But Biden’s inauguration and subsequent elevation of Rosenworcel to FCC chair sparked interest in reviving net neutrality. Just days after Biden was sworn in, Chad Marlow, a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote that Trump repealing the net neutrality rules was a “terrible move” as Americans “love a free and open internet.”

President Joe Biden kicked off this latest round of net neutrality rule-making in July 2021, with an executive order intended to promote competition in the American economy. The order urged consideration of net neutrality as part of a wider push to crack down on anti-competitive practices. The FCC started proceedings on reinstating net neutrality last October.

That interest accelerated in recent months, especially after the FCC began its rulemaking process. At a roundtable in Santa Clara County, California, earlier this month, Rosenworcel praised California’s state-level net neutrality law and the other states that followed its lead, adding that national net neutrality rules are crucial for public safety and national security.

“Just start with the story of our hosts,” Rosenworcel said at the event held at the Santa Clara Fire Department’s McCormack Training Center. “When they were responding to an emergency, they discovered that the internet connection in one of their command vehicles was being throttled, compromising their ability to stay connected and fight fires.”

She also argued that net neutrality rules would allow the FCC to investigate broadband outages, as it does phone outages, and be able to deny companies controlled by “hostile foreign governments” from accessing networks in this country.

Political reaction to today’s ruling was split along ideological lines. Ahead of the vote, more than 40 Republican lawmakers across both chambers of Congress sent a letter to Rosenworcel saying the decision “circumvents” the law and “would inflict serious damage” on U.S. broadband.

But House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone of New Jersey and California Rep. Doris Matsui, the ranking member on the communications and technology subcommittee, released a joint statement praising the FCC’s decision. “Like any other piece of critical infrastructure in this country, we rely on our ability to access the internet every day—an essential part of Americans’ daily lives that deserves protection,” the pair said.

And in the lead-up to the vote, various think tanks and advocacy groups split on the issue of net neutrality. The free-market policy research group R Street Institute called the vote “misguided” and warned of “unintended consequences.” The group said the FCC would be better off directing its energies elsewhere.

“Rather than focus on ramming through policies that will negatively impact consumers, the FCC should be focused on removing burdensome regulations on the internet marketplace,” Jonathan Cannon, policy counsel for R Street’s technology and innovation team, said in a statement in early April. “It needs to incentivize investment from the private sector, ensuring there is an environment for robust competition that will lower prices and increase the quality of services. These regulations will do the exact opposite.”

After the vote, John Bergmayer, legal director at open internet advocacy group Public Knowledge, said in a statement it is an “important victory” and noted that the FCC’s decision to leave states the ability to maintain their own net neutrality laws preserves “significant state authority over broadband.”

“States with excellent net neutrality and broadband consumer protection statutes, like California, can be a nationwide model for other states and the FCC to adopt to strengthen their own rules,” Bergmayer said.