WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) hosted a news conference call with college newspapers and radio stations to discuss his efforts to restore net neutrality rules, which the Federal Communications Commission voted to gut in December 2017.

“Internet providers should not be able to slow down your internet access or charge you more based on the shows you watch, the teams you cheer for, or the politicians you support,” Brown said. “The Internet doesn’t belong to a wealthy few – it belongs to you, to Ohio students and ordinary people across this country.”

The FCC’s vote repealed the 2015 Open Internet Order, which the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld in 2016, to prohibit internet service providers from setting up internet fast and slow lanes and ensured they could not block or slow down internet traffic.

Since the December vote, Brown has been fighting to keep the internet free and open from corporate interference, including: 

  • Brown and several of his colleagues introduced a resolution of disapproval to rescind FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s move and fully restore the Open Internet Order.
  • Ahead of the repeal vote in December, Brown requested the FCC delay the vote in two separate letters, available here and here.
  • Brown also lead his colleagues in urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to delay the planned December 14 vote to roll back net neutrality rules until an investigation be conducted after reports that bots filed hundreds of thousands of comments to the FCC during the rulemaking process. 

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