The administration of President Donald Trump said a few days ago that their next move would be to look at rolling back the Net Neutrality rules that got passed by the Obama administration back in 2015. If Trump were to go through with this it would be another blow to internet regulations from the Obama era, as the Senate already repealed regulations that ordered internet service providers, like AT&T or Comcast, to do more to protect the privacy of customers.
What are the net neutrality rules Trump wants to repeal?
The Obama administration's net neutrality rules got approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in a bid to safeguard free online expression.
These rules got done to make sure that no online content would be blocked by having the internet be divided into pay-to-pay fast lanes for those who could afford it, like big corporations, and slow lanes for everyone else. Supports have argued that these rules are required to make sure that everyone has equal access to content on the internet. Under net neutrality the internet was reclassified as a 'common carrier', regulated as a public utility and required service providers to act as a neutral gateway.
Who supports repealing this rule?
With White House press secretary Sean Spicer, stating that President Donald Trump "pledged to reverse this overreach", it seems like Trump is determined to get rid of the Obama administration net neutrality rules.
The major opponents against these rules, the telecommunication and cable companies, have argued that this opens the door for government interference in business decisions that would reduce incentive to investing, raise prices and hurt customers. Trump's appointment as chairman of the FCC is Ajit Pai. Pai is a former lawyer for Verizon.
He also served as one of the two Republican minority Republican members on the Federal Communications Commission from 2012-16 and voted against net neutrality. Ironically enough, Pai got appointed by President Obama at the recommendation of Mitch McConnell.
