FCC Commissioner Brenden Carr announced in a recent press release his opposition to new internet regulations being rolled out by FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. Senate Republicans followed by sending a letter to Rosenworcel discouraging the implementation of these regulations. Carr calls these regulations “unlawful,” saying, “The American people want more freedom on the Internet—not greater government controls over their online lives.”
These “utility-style ‘net neutrality’ regulations” were proposed following an executive order from President Biden calling on the FCC to implement internet regulations “for the purpose of dissemination [] information to the public in a useful manner, to improve price transparency and market functioning.”
Deregulation has been the longtime position of Carr and his Republican colleagues in the FCC. Six years ago, during the Obama Administration, FCC Republicans overturned net neutrality, with many on the left dubbing the move a catastrophe, but the Democrats’ forecasted apocalypse actually resulted in prosperity.
Halting the Obama administration’s overreach restored incentive structures and helped to revitalize the American spirit of innovation. According to the press release, since the 2017 FCC decision reversing Obama-era policies, “Broadband speeds in the U.S. are up, prices are down, competition has increased, and record-breaking broadband builds brought millions of Americans across the digital divide.”
Historically speaking, American innovation is achievable, in part, due to a marketplace with less regulation. Covid-19 was the ultimate stress test proving the adaptability and strength of online industries with actual incentives. Online traffic drastically increased overnight, and American networks outperformed European ones because of
