Net Neutrality Repeal Officially Takes Effect, Permitting ISPs to Throttle, Block, and Prioritize Content for Payment

The FCC’s “Restoring Internet Freedom” order officially takes effect, eliminating the Title II net neutrality protections that had prohibited internet service providers from blocking, throttling, or creating paid “fast lanes” for content delivery. Nearly six months after the Republican-led FCC’s 3-2 party-line vote in December 2017, ISPs gained legal authority to discriminate against internet traffic, prioritize their own content and services, and charge content companies for preferential treatment—as long as they disclose these practices in their terms of service.

The repeal represented the culmination of Ajit Pai’s crusade against net neutrality that began immediately upon his appointment as FCC Chairman by President Trump in January 2017. Despite massive public opposition—including nearly four million public comments during the 2015 rulemaking (overwhelmingly supporting protections) and widespread evidence of fraudulent industry-generated comments during the 2017 repeal process—Pai successfully dismantled the regulatory framework that had treated broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II. The timing of the implementation was strategically delayed: the order was codified in the Federal Register on February 22, 2018, but didn’t take effect until June 11, after the Senate passed a resolution attempting to stop the repeal (52-47 vote on May 16) but the House failed to act.

The repeal demonstrated the fragility of regulatory protections that depend on agency rulemaking rather than Congressional legislation. Within just over two years of the FCC’s 2015 establishment of strong net neutrality rules, a new administration with an industry-friendly chairman had completely reversed course. At least 22 states filed lawsuits challenging the repeal, and several states enacted their own net neutrality laws, but the damage to federal protections was done. The repeal allowed companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T—the very corporations whose paid prioritization schemes had sparked the net neutrality movement—to fundamentally reshape internet access according to their business interests rather than principles of openness and equality.