Most progressives and some of our friends on the right, want the federal government to subsidize Internet connections, regulate them, and police what can and can’t be said.

But three recent events show the folly of this approach.

First, was the recent Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that wisely halted the FCC’s illegal power grab to regulate internet access as a public utility. Our Unleash Prosperity study demonstrated that this approach was a disaster under Obama, and its Trump-era repeal coincided with lower prices and much faster speeds – contrary to hilariously wrong predictions of deregulation-related doom and gloom.

Second, was the recent finding that the Biden-Harris “infrastructure bill,” which authorized some $42 billion to expand high-speed connectivity to rural and inner-city areas, has hooked up approximately zero households to broadband service and that connections won’t even begin until next year at the earliest.

Finally, was the August 26 letter by Meta/Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, admitting in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee that the Biden administration had pressured the company to “censor” COVID-19 content relating to health practices and vaccine safety during the pandemic. In 2021, the Biden administration accused social media platforms of “killing people” for allowing misinformation about COVID.

The Biden administration has failed to apologize for its gross violation of the First Amendment and not one federal employee has been fired for participating in it.

Relying on the government to police the internet is a “danger to democracy,” our freedom of speech, and universal access to digital communications.