White House offers support for net neutrality rollback

By Barry Eitel

SAN FRANCISCO (AA) – The White House made comments Tuesday supporting the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) review of regulations that could affect the neutrality of the Internet but did not directly call for the rules’ erasure.

Monday was the deadline for public comment regarding a rollback for rules aimed at protecting “net neutrality” -- the idea Internet service providers should allow equal access to all web content.

The rules were set in place in 2015 and prevent providers like AT&T and Comcast from favoring or blocking specific websites.

Ajit Pai, President Donald Trump’s FCC chairman, has supported killing the regulations. Opponents, including hundreds of major technology companies, are worried providers will be able to charge websites for better Internet connections.

At a press briefing, deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders noted the Trump administration supported Pai’s quest to review the 2015 rules, but stopped short of urging their rollback.

“We support the FCC chair’s efforts to review and consider rolling back these rules and believe that the best way to get fair rules for everyone is for Congress to take action and create regulatory and economic certainty,” Sanders said.

She blamed the administration of former President Barack Obama for going the “wrong way” of imposing rules on providers via the FCC.

“The [Trump] administration believes that rules of the road are important for everyone — website providers, internet service providers and consumers alike,” Sanders added.

Supporters of net neutrality saw the comments as a door to push the Trump administration to stop Pai’s campaign.

And there is large bipartisan support for net neutrality. A poll released last week by Republican research firm IMGE Insights found 75 percent of Trump supporters favor the 2015 rules.

“Pai is increasingly isolated – he has clearly misjudged the Republican base,” Evan Greer of Fight for the Future, an organization pushing to save the rules, said in a statement. “No one wants companies like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T to have the power to decide what we can see and what we can say on the internet. The White House fell far short of supporting the FCC’s plan and only noted that they are right to ‘review’ the current rules. This is a clear signal that they know how unpopular the repeal of net neutrality rules is with voters, including conservatives and libertarians.”

Hundreds of companies, including Facebook, Google, Amazon and Twitter, participated in a “day of action” July 12 to educate Americans about Pai’s plan.