A federal appeals court overturned the outgoing Biden administration’s efforts to maintain “net neutrality” on Thursday, dealing a final blow to Democrats who sought to gain greater oversight over the Internet.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lacked the authority to reinstate the net-neutrality rules. The FCC voted along partisan lines last year to restore the rules after President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2021 encouraging the federal body to do so.
The rules were initially implemented by the FCC under then-president Barack Obama in 2015 until the first Trump administration repealed the regulations two years later. The numerous court challenges lasted nearly a decade.
Net-neutrality rules require Internet service providers to treat all communications and data equally rather than restrict access, slow speeds, or block certain content for users. They also prohibited the service providers from boosting network speeds for websites that paid extra fees.
In Thursday’s ruling, the three-judge panel cited the Supreme Court’s decision on Chevron deference, in which courts would have deferred to agencies for interpreting ambiguous federal law. In upending the 40-year-old legal doctrine, the Supreme Court expects judges to follow their best interpretation of the law.
While the appeals court’s decision doesn’t abolish net-neutrality rules in states such as California and Colorado, it does end the federal government’s effort to regulate broadband service providers by using the same rules that govern phone services.
In its vote last April, the FCC classified broadband as a “telecommunications service” under Title II of the Communications Act. On Thursday, the judicial panel called broadband an “information service” instead.
Advocates have largely called for a fair and open Internet accessible to all people, while critics expressed concern that the government would expand its control over the Internet. Democrats largely favor net neutrality, while Republicans oppose what they see as unnecessary regulations.
The rules have also been opposed by telecommunications giants such as AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon. Service providers were pleased with Thursday’s ruling.
Democratic FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called on Congress to protect net neutrality, suggesting the commission’s efforts have come to a definitive end.
“Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair,” Rosenworcel said. “With this decision it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law.”
Republican FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, who will replace Rosenworcel as chairman upon President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, meanwhile praised the court’s decision. Carr previously voted to block the commission’s reinstatement of the Obama-era net-neutrality rules, and he said that effort was a waste of time and resources given that they were already repealed under Trump.
“President Biden’s entire plan rested on the Chicken Little tactic of persuading Americans that the Internet would break in the absence of these so-called ‘net neutrality’ regulations,” Carr said. “The American people have now seen through that ruse.”