The Obama-era federal regulations known as net neutrality are done – at least for now. Though whether anything will change depends on where you live, and what internet service providers choose to do with their newfound freedom.
The net neutrality rules were approved in 2015. Companies couldn’t pay service providers like Verizon or AT&T extra to make their site or app load faster for internet users, and ISPs couldn’t block or throttle content and data, as long as it was legal.
But Trump’s pick to run the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, called those rules “heavy-handed” and vowed to end them. His order, touted as promoting investment and broadband deployment, loosens the FCC’s regulation of ISPs, and instead gives the Federal Trade Commission jurisdiction to enforce violations. Pai says this system lets the FTC focus on “the bad apples” and allows other players “thrive in a free market.”
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