Net neutrality

Net neutrality, or network neutrality, is the concept that internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all internet traffic equally. Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia School of Law who coined the term in 2002, argued that ISPs should not be allowed to block or slow web traffic or provide paid internet fast lanes that allow certain content to load more quickly than other content.

On February 26, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the Open Internet Order. The order instituted net neutrality rules that considered ISPs a public utility that had to be regulated like gas, water, electric, and phone service companies. ISPs were prohibited from blocking or slowing web traffic or providing paid internet fast lanes.

On February 22, 2018, the FCC published an order in the Federal Register repealing and replacing the 2015 Open Internet Order. Under the 2018 rules, ISPs will not be regulated as a public utility. ISPs will have to disclose their practices, and the FCC and Federal Trade Commission will investigate any anti-competitive behavior. Some elements of the new rules, titled Restoring Internet Freedom, took effect on April 23, 2018. The full order repealing all of the 2015 net neutrality rules was scheduled to take effect on June 11, 2018. On April 25, 2024, the FCC voted 3-2 along party lines to restore the 2015 net neutrality rules.

Following the Supreme Court's ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and the elimination of the Chevron deference, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in 2025 that the FCC no longer had the authority to classify ISPs as a public utility.

Support for net neutrality

Supporters of net neutrality argue that it "keeps the barriers to entry for new websites and internet applications low. Supporters say that freedom has allowed the creation of dozens of innovative online services such as Google, Twitter, Netflix, Amazon, Skype, and more. They worry that without net neutrality, the internet would become less hospitable to new companies and innovative ideas," according to Vox.

Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat on the FCC who voted against the repeal of the 2015 Open Internet Order, criticized the 2018 Restoring Internet Freedom plan, saying, "As a result of today’s misguided action, our broadband providers will get extraordinary new power from this agency. They will have the power to block websites, throttle services, and censor online content. They will have the right to discriminate and favor the internet traffic of those companies with whom they have pay-for- play arrangements and the right to consign all others to a slow and bumpy road.”

Opposition to net neutrality

Opponents of net neutrality argue that "requiring networks to treat all traffic the same could discourage beneficial innovation by network owners" and "could discourage investment in network infrastructure," according to Vox.

Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who opposed the 2015 Open Internet Order, argued that it was unnecessary. In a statement proposing the adoption of the Restoring Internet Freedom plan, Pai said,

“

The Internet wasn’t broken in 2015. We were not living in a digital dystopia. Nonetheless, the FCC that year succumbed to pressure from the White House and changed course. Even though the FCC couldn’t find any evidence of market failure, it turned its back on almost two decades of success. It imposed upon all Internet service providers (ISPs), big and small, the heavy-handed regulatory framework designed during the Roosevelt Administration to micromanage the AT&T telephone monopoly. These utility-style regulations, known as 'Title II,' were and are like the proverbial sledgehammer being wielded against the flea—except that here, there was no flea. As a result of these rules, small ISPs faced new regulatory burdens associated with common carrier compliance. Innovative providers hoping to offer their customers new, even free services had to fear a Washington bureaucracy that might disapprove and take enforcement action against them. With the possibility of broadband rate regulation looming on the horizon, companies investing in next-generation networks hesitated to build or expand networks, unsure of whether the government would let them compete in the free market. Today, we propose to repeal utility-style regulation of the Internet. We propose to return to the Clinton-era light-touch framework that has proven to be successful. And we propose to put technologists and engineers, rather than lawyers and accountants, at the center of the online world.

”

Pai argued that the 2018 Restoring Internet Freedom plan would allow consumers to know what they were getting from their ISPs. According to The Wall Street Journal, under Pai’s plan, “[A] buyer of a monthly cellphone plan would be able to find out if access to a particular streaming-movie service is prioritized over other traffic from a rival service. His plan envisions enforcement of that transparency by both the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission, whose mission is consumer protection against anticompetitive and deceptive behaviors.”

See also

• Federal policy on technology, privacy, and cybersecurity, 2017-2020
• Net neutrality responses by state
• Federal Communications Commission