A federal appeals court on Thursday effectively ended the Federal Communications Commission's almost two-decade effort to win tighter oversight of the internet. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the agency doesn't have the authority to reinstate rules to prevent broadband providers from slowing or blocking access to internet content, the New York Times reports. Net neutrality principles to keep providers from favoring certain sites had been advocated by Democrats since the Obama administration, per the Wall Street Journal. Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Republican who's to become FCC chair in the next administration, praised the court's ruling.
"The work to unwind the Biden administration's regulatory overreach will continue," Carr said in a statement. The Democrat he'll replace, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, said customers still want "fast, open, and fair" internet service. She urged Congress on Thursday to approve legislation to protect those principles. The rules had been repealed under President-elect Trump's first administration, but a back-and-forth battle had continued, with tech giants—including Google, Facebook, and Netflix—on one side and broadband providers on the other.
The battle had been heated, bringing street protests and threats to commissioners, but has cooled as the focus moved more to social media platforms. "The market no longer thinks it's a big deal and hasn't for a while," said Blair Levin, a former FCC chief of staff. Still, broadband providers celebrated Thursday. "Our fight to stop the government's unwarranted internet takeover has resulted in a major victory," said the CEO of ACA Connects, a cable trade group. (More net neutrality stories.)
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