One worry among many with Donald Trump’s presidency becoming increasingly pressing is the net neutrality rules. In 2015, millions of people advocated for the Federal Communications Commission to add in net neutrality rules that keep the internet free and open, thus allowing people to share and have access to information of their choice. By having these rules, big cable providers such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Spectrum are not legally able to speed up, slow down or block any websites one would want to use. Net neutrality has been a concept that people do not often think about because it has always been something in place. Trump’s FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, however, wants to change this.
Pai wants to abandon Title II, which is what gives internet users the freedom they are accustomed to while on the web, and return to the FCC’s Title I. It is considered to have light, but still regulated, control of the internet. Essentially, Pai would be giving control to the internet companies that had previously violated net neutrality before the FCC had its current rules in 2015.
This would have a severe negative impact on internet users, as well as cable companies, in manys ways. One way is that monster companies would be able to block their customers from competitors’ websites or content that they did not like or agree with. Fundamentally, the companies would be able to control who is heard and who is not. Many risks of media conglomeration go hand-in-hand with that of net neutrality. The primary disadvantage of conglomeration is that bad or ugly news about parent companies often goes unnoticed because the news stations are owned by that parent company. The same will be true if net neutrality disappears, except this time, it is the internet, so it is even worse. Imagine trying to look up a scandal that was tied to perhaps Verizon and not getting the information needed because all news negatively portraying Verizon is blocked. That is bad for consumers and bad for freedom. Huge companies would be impacted because they would be able to make themselves into even bigger powerhouses than they already are by further limiting their customers’ choices.
Often, many people who feel they do not have a strong voice in society like the LGBTQ community, minority religious groups or people of color use the free internet as a way to reach out to one another. This could all be put to a halt if Pai successfully destroys the net neutrality rules. Clearly, this will have both a strong but likely negative impact on the consumer and make large cable companies even more powerful in society than they already are.
