OPINION:
The Federal Communications Commission will vote next week on “net neutrality” rules designed to give the feds even more leverage than they already do over online platforms.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because then-President Barack Obama implemented net neutrality in 2015 after an unprecedented lobbying effort from Big Tech. The scheme takes antique laws meant to oversee Ma Bell’s rotary telephones and applies them to modern online services.
Doing so makes no sense until you realize big companies have the advantage when it comes to cajoling Uncle Sam to interpret vague statutes in their favor. They almost succeeded when then-President Donald Trump’s FCC announced its intention to hang up on net neutrality in 2017.
Big Tech went ballistic, orchestrating an “Internet Day of Action” as part of a relentless media campaign insisting internet freedom would disappear unless the hundreds of pages of federal red tape were kept in place. The FCC chairman at the time, Ajit Pai, was mercilessly mocked on late-night television.
Net-neutrality champions claimed that Americans would pay more for slower internet access, and that internet service providers would intentionally slow down traffic to disfavored websites. Mr. Pai stood his ground, and the results speak for themselves.
“None of the Apocalyptic predictions came to pass,” writes Brendan Carr, a Republican FCC commissioner. “Instead, Americans benefited from lower prices, faster speeds, increased competition, and accelerated Internet builds. The FCC’s latest set of claims fare no better than those trotted out back then.”
There’s a simple reason why the FCC shouldn’t regulate the internet: It has no legitimate legal authority to do so. If Congress wants to change that, elected lawmakers can pass a statute saying so, with a public record of the votes allowing accountability for the end result. This is how our government is supposed to work.
When the FCC invents rules out of thin air, companies with cozy White House relationships such as Facebook and Google have enormous influence on the outcome. The FCC is among the worst offenders when it comes to insider dealing and the revolving door with industry. Republicans and Democrats alike routinely exit the agency for cushy jobs with the companies they once oversaw.
If the administration truly seeks to lower broadband prices, it can encourage more competition by going after state and local roadblocks deterring companies from wiring up new homes or setting up the equipment needed to provide wireless service.
The government is also the biggest squatter on the airwaves, hogging vast swaths of the valuable commodity that could be better used for consumer wireless services. The FCC’s authority to auction this spectrum expired last year.
FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel agrees with Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota on the need for Congress to reauthorize auctions. That should be the priority.
Moreover, this administration has no business claiming it supports “internet freedom” when its officials have been caught colluding behind the scenes with Big Tech to censor President Biden’s political opponents on every online platform from Instagram to YouTube.
Instead of merely slowing down access to the conservative social media site Parler in 2021, Amazon, Apple and Google conspired to expel the fledgling competitor from the internet entirely.
Net neutrality is a meaningless distraction from these very real threats to online freedom.
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