Written by 
A court ruling striking down net neutrality has local advocates bracing for the impacts — just like they’ve been doing for more than a decade.
A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked the Federal Communications Commission’s latest efforts to restore rules that would treat internet service providers (ISPs) like utility companies, requiring all customers be treated equally — no slowed speeds, filtered content or higher prices for select sites.
Small businesses, digital equity advocates and regional governments have long fought for those rules to stay in place, arguing that without them, ISP could limit internet access for smaller orgs, deepen the digital divide and throttle content to impact what some users see.
This time, however, the court sided with the ISPs that say the FCC would need congressional authorization to enforce the rules, stoking fears that net neutrality could be dead for at least another four years.
The Biden Administration pushed for open internet before the Trump Administration, which previously repealed the rules, takes over. Leaders urge Congress to pick up net neutrality to get it over the line, but judges say it’s become a political battle more than anything else.
This order—issued during the Biden administration—undoes the order issued during the first Trump administration, which undid the order issued during the Obama administration, which undid orders issued during the Bush and Clinton administrations,” the judges wrote.
What happens now? The fight between both sides continues. As advocates have planned for since 2017, it’s back to legislative pushes — and supporting communities with affordable internet access where they can.
“We will be fighting to make sure all our senators and representatives repeal this horrible mess,” MMP’s policy director Hannah Sassaman told Technical.ly when Trump appealed the Obama-era rules.
As big ISPs speak out, advocates try local gov, Congress instead
Just like in previous years, we can expect protests, outspoken politicians and discussions of local regulations to return in an effort to preserve net neutrality — especially given Brendan Carr’s, Trump’s pick to lead the FCC, strong support for today’s appeals court decision.
“While the work to unwind the Biden Admin’s regulatory overreach will continue, this is a good win,” Carr wrote on X.
Back in 2017, bots flooded the FCC comment process to convince the agency not to repeal net neutrality rules. Real, live humans showed up, too. They rallied at Verizon stores and the Comcast building to tell the pro-repeal crowd why they disagreed.
“Listen, listen, FCC, the Internet belongs to me,” the crowd chanted.
In fact, Comcast and Time Warner Cable donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat 2014 New York lieutenant governor candidate Tim Wu, known as the inventor of net neutrality.
Still, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts defended his stance on the topic in a 2017 Bloomberg interview. ISPs generally argue that internet access isn’t the same as other public utilities or even telephones. Usage varies dramatically — from casual surfing to intensive streaming to AI data mining — and the current system should continue to account for that.
“Net neutrality can also be called regulation,” Roberts said. “Sometimes people say I’m against net neutrality and that’s not the case at all.”
Other critics of net neutrality went as far as calling the fears around internet throttling unfounded.
“It’s utter bullshit,” cofounder of comms company Vonage Jeff Pulver told Technical.ly in 2014. “I’ve never seen slow lanes before.”
As federal courts limit the FCC’s powers, the political debate is shifting to Congress and state legislatures. Eleven states introduced net neutrality legislation in 2022, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“With this decision, it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call,” Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said, “take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law.”
The public reacts in favor of net neutrality
Without net neutrality rules, critics argue ISPs will be incentivized to prioritize content from larger providers — after all, they can afford the priority spots. That would limit the availability of diverse, locally relevant content for communities.
They worry, as the Media Mobilizing Project told Technical.ly in 2016, that huge corporations could limit our abilities to connect online, calling the internet a human right.
For years, grassroots efforts cropped up to vocalize how the end of net neutrality would impact them. Hundreds of individuals waited in line to share 3-minute statements about the importance of the internet and strong net neutrality rules at local FCC town halls, Technical.ly reported in 2022.
Even kids as young as 14 years old attended hackathons to learn how to fight hackers that could potentially threaten a free and open internet.
With the latest ruling, these concerns are front of mind yet again — as broadband access more generally catches attention. The end of a massive affordable internet program that aimed to get more people online stoked fears that the internet could become more closed off after all.
Fear of throttled speeds can stifle innovation, companies say
As members of the public rallied around the cause, so did the startups and small businesses in their communities.
New endeavors, from tech and non-tech companies alike, rely on the internet to get up and running. Without net neutrality, larger companies might pay for prioritized internet traffic, making it harder for emerging businesses to compete.
“What if the electric company turned down the power for all but the richest US companies? Technical innovation depends on full access to the Internet,” Tor Project Public Policy Director Kate Krauss told Technical.ly in 2017. “It’s become an essential utility, like electricity.”
Small ISP startups have cropped up to combat this.
“We are big fans of net neutrality,” Mark Steckel, founder of wireless provider PhillyWisper, previously told Technical.ly. The startup pledged to operate as if net neutrality is the law of the land, and pledges not to sell user data.
Similarly in Delaware, local WiFi provider WhyFly promised to remain net neutral after the 2017 appeal.
Companies aren’t shy to show their disdain for federal moves to shut down net neutrality. Etsy and Kickstarter joined dozens of other high-profile websites in 2017 with pop-up protests against the efforts.
The middle market business “could need to send a lot of data, but it’s tough [for them] to pay for that connectivity,” Paul de Sa, a VP and senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said in 2014. (Netflix is known as one of the most notorious proponents of net neutrality after its former CEO blasted Comcast for its anti-net neutrality stance.)
These organizations all still rely on the same principles of open and free internet that they spoke out about years ago, likely sparking more backlash ahead of an administration change that has shot down net neutrality before.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)