Appeals court strikes down U.S. net neutrality rules

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday struck down the Biden administration’s net neutrality rules, which prohibited internet providers from promoting some websites over others. It said the Federal Communications Commission, in imposing net neutrality rules on internet providers, acted outside the scope of Title II of the Telecommunications Act, which Congress passed in 1996. In doing so, the court employed the reasoning of the Supreme Court’s decision last year to dial back federal agencies’ leeway in interpreting the laws they administer, overturning the Chevron doctrine.

What’s the history of this net neutrality idea in the United States? In its ruling, The appeals court summarized the policy’s history. In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the U.S. government declared that the internet had up to that point flourished to the benefit of Americans with minimal government regulation. The law was passed by a Republican Congress and a Democratic president. The act sought to minimize the government’s internet regulation policies. And, for roughly 15 years, that’s what the FCC did, according to the appeals court.

But in the mid-2010s, while former President Barack Obama was in office, the executive branch implemented a new philosophy of net neutrality, according to the court’s ruling. Instead of allowing internet providers to promote some websites or information over others, internet providers had to treat all websites and information the same. Obama’s administration defined internet providers as common carriers under the Communications Act of 1934, meaning they had to provide the same services to all people using their platform without showing preference to certain content.

When President-elect Donald Trump took over the Oval Office from Obama for his first term, he repealed net neutrality policies from the Obama administration. Once again, internet companies could prioritize certain content over other content when responding to users’ search queries. But when President Joe Biden succeeded Trump in office, his executive branch re-implemented Obama’s net neutrality regulations. Now, the Sixth Circuit has found the Biden administration’s net neutrality rules to be illegitimate.

What do Republicans and Democrats have to say about this? Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the FCC under Biden, on Thursday urged Congress to pass a new law forcing internet providers to treat all information and viewpoints the same and create a fast, open, and fair digital space. Meanwhile, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who has been picked to lead the agency as part of President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, celebrated the court’s ruling. He decried the FCC’s regulations—he said he had opposed them all along—as an unnecessary command-and-control mechanism. He called for the agency to pursue more practical ways of increasing internet access across the United States.

Dig Deeper: Read Kristen Waggoner’s column in WORLD Opinions about another federal appeals court striking down Nasdaq’s diversity, equity, and inclusion rules.