Mr. Wheeler passed the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules that the agency’s current Republican majority, led by Ajit Pai, voted to repeal last week. Those rules prohibited internet service providers from blocking or slowing down certain websites and creating internet “fast lanes.”
Mr. Pai addressed giant internet platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter when making his case for the repeal, arguing they pose a greater threat to an open internet than the broadband companies his agency moved to deregulate, The Hill reports.
Mr. Wheeler thinks both industries need more government oversight. Tech platforms have become so massive they now have the power to dominate competitors in many industries and exploit consumers’ personal information, he writes.
“It is time to recognize that the most powerful companies in the country should not be making their own rules,” Mr. Wheeler wrote. “These are not evil companies or malicious executives … In the absence of ground rules, however, human nature and economic incentive take over. Aided and abetted by their powerful technological capabilities, the companies that control the internet are free to impose their will without permission or oversight.”
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