Federal Communications Commission

Authored by Sam Estep via The Mises Institute,

Update: House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) issued the following statement following Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai’s actions to undo net neutrality regulations:

Last Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its plan to reverse net neutrality regulations that were put in place under the Obama administration in 2015. Net neutrality is the concept that all internet traffic should be treated equally by internet service providers (ISPs), regardless of the content that is delivered or who it was created by.

The Trump administration has just set in motion a plan to repeal virtually all of the U.S. government’s existing net neutrality rules — a move that could soon deliver a major deregulatory win to telecom/cable giants like AT&T, Charter, Comcast and Verizon.  Ironically, the move comes just as another Trump administration department, the DOJ, seems intent upon delivering a massive blow to AT&T's efforts to acquire Time Warner.

President Trump’s newly appointed head of the FCC looks set to abolish the net neutrality rules, meaning that the federal government will no longer regulate the Internet. Ajit Pai, a fierce critic of the net neutrality rules, was selected by Trump to chair the Federal Communications Commission.