The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday in favour of restoring open internet protections for consumers and businesses, also referred to as net neutrality.
Net neutrality first went into effect back in 2015 under the Obama administration. The idea being that internet providers should treat all traffic equally and not throttle or block certain traffic for whatever reasons. It was then quickly killed off by the FCC under former President Trump two years later.
Thursday’s vote went down party lines with three Democrat commissioners in favor of restarting the process and two Republican commissioners voting against it.
“Today, we begin a process to make this right,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a press release Thursday. “We propose to reinstate enforceable, bright-line rules to prevent blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. They would ensure that the internet remains open and a haven for creating without permission, building community beyond geography, and organizing without physical constraints.”
Rosenworcel confirmed the news of her intent to revive net neutrality last month. This came after Commissioner Anna Gomez was confirmed by the Senate.
Up next for the FCC is a public comment period on the net neutrality proposals. If adopted after a review, the FCC would then implement the internet protections.