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FCC Reinstates Net Neutrality in 3-2 Vote
posted on by Anita Tai
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted on April 25 to reinstate net neutrality regulations, which block service providers such as Comcast, AT&T, Verizon from stratifying the internet with preferred traffic.
The commission voted 3-2 along party lines.
During former U.S. President Donald Trump's government in 2017, the net neutrality laws were deemed unnecessary and repealed.
Standing U.S. President Joe Biden enacted an executive order in 2021 to encourage the FCC to reinstate net neutrality.
The FCC guidelines previously disallowed such tactics under rules that dictated "net neutrality," and did not allow ISPs to charge consumers extra for faster access to some Internet content compared to others. The rules were passed in 2010. Comcast and later Verizon Communications Inc. challenged the FCC's rules. The court ruled in 2014 that while the FCC has the authority to oversee broadband communications, it does not have a mandate to impose the anti-discrimination rules on broadband providers.
The FCC then voted in 2015 to change ISPs from Title I information services to Title II common carriers, thus subjecting ISPs to net neutrality protocols.
Sources: VOA News, Reuters (David Shepardson), Deadline (Jill Goldsmith, Ted Johnson)
