WASHINGTON—Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reinstated an Obama-era “net neutrality” order that subjects internet service providers to more stringent regulations. 

Annie Chestnut Tutor, policy analyst, and Daniel Cochrane, senior research associate in the Tech Policy Center at The Heritage Foundation, made the following statement: 

“The Biden FCC’s Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet rule was adopted to ostensibly preserve a “free and open internet” by preventing internet service providers from blocking or throttling content in a discriminatory fashion. But the order virtually ignores today’s biggest offender—Big Tech—while threatening to impose burdensome red tape on new entrants.  

 

“As we pointed out in our 2023 comment in opposition to the rule, this order potentially opens the door for the FCC to impose future rate regulations on internet delivery services. By regulating broadband providers under Title II of the Communications Act, the FCC risks harming non-conventional providers like SpaceX’s Starlink. One-size-fits all rate requirements could hinder new entrants that need flexibility to increase broadband coverage using cutting edge technologies, such as low earth orbit satellite systems. Competition between internet delivery services has enabled more connectivity options, including higher speeds and bandwidth. This is just one way the order could hamper innovation moving forward. 

 

“The Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet rule threatens American dynamism and fails to address the real threat to a free and open internet.”