In the days ahead, the Federal Communication Commission will re-install Obama-era rules, called “net neutrality”, to regulate internet access and content.
It seems patently obvious that since nearly every American uses the Internet (95% of adults), we’re doing just fine without government interference. But FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel explains: “Every one of us — no matter who we are or where we live — needs broadband service to have a fair shot at success in the digital age.” She says that her agency is just reinstating rules to make the internet “fast, open and fair.”
We didn’t know that broadband has become a human right. However, our forthcoming study at CTUP by Phil Kerpen and University of Chicago professor Casey Mulligan, shows that the deregulation of the internet under Trump had two positive effects.
First, it made broadband more affordable:
Second, deregulation brought better and speedier service. Wireless internet speeds increased by a factor of eight AFTER the FCC regs were lifted in 2017:
And precisely zero of the absurd negative consequences predicted by the media and other Democrats happened.
This comes on the heels of the FCC already adopting Biden’s “digital discrimination” rules, that set them up as the equity police for the Internet, based on an absurd disparate impact standard.