FCC net neutrality rules dead again as appeals court sides with Big Telco

The prolonged fight for net neutrality in America has shifted once again, with the FCC's resurrected regulations struck down by a panel of appeals court judges today.

The decision from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, filed today, formally killed the FCC's April order that once again classified internet service providers as common carriers required to be impartial in the offering of their services regardless of what a customer was doing online.

It's the second time the communications regulator has attempted to pass net neutrality regulations and the second time the rules have been tossed, but the first time federal judges have been the ones to do it. 

We're going on ten years since the FCC passed its first net neutrality rules during the Obama administration. For those that haven't kept abreast of the decade-long back-and-forth battle, it's been a partisan issue since the FCC passed its initial rule in February 2015. Both the original vote and the one in April 2024 to reinstate the rule were decided 3-2 on party lines, with Democrats in the majority. 

The reasoning behind the rule has remained consistent: Obama's FCC reclassified ISPs as Title II common carriers under the 1934 Telecommunications Act, effectively deciding that companies providing internet service were operating a public utility and requiring that they treat all traffic on their networks impartially.

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