The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 along party lines Thursday to reverse the Obama-era internet regulations known as “net neutrality,” arguing over dire Democratic warnings that the change would help consumers and promote competition among internet providers.
Under net neutrality, which the FCC first implemented in 2015, internet service providers were prohibited from charging websites different prices for different access speeds, and classified the internet as a utility, like phone services or water, to justify the FCC’s authority in implementing the changes.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Thursday characterized the 2015 changes as a solution to a phantom problem—ISPs blocking access to certain websites—and charged them with slowing the growth of internet companies.
“The internet wasn’t broken in 2015. We were not living in some digital dystopia,” Pai said. “The main problem consumers have with the internet is not, and never has been, that their internet provider is blocking access to content. It’s been that they don’t have access at all.”
Both Democratic commissioners who voted against the change painted a dark picture of ISPs silencing political rivals and extorting small and startup websites. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn released a breathless dissenting statement, calling the change a “fiercely spun, legally lightweight, consumer-harming, corporate-enabling Destroying Internet Freedom Order.”
“The results of throwing out your net neutrality protections may not be felt right away,” she wrote. “But what we have wrought will one day be apparent, and by then, when you really see what has changed, I fear it may be too late to do anything about it, because there will be no agency empowered to address your concerns.”
Meanwhile, Republican commissioner Brendan Carr waved off what he called “apocalyptic” warnings.
“I’m proud to end this two-year experiment with heavy-handed regulation,” he said.
