John,

I’ve got good news and bad news.

The good news is that last Thursday, the FCC released their draft order to restore net neutrality.¹ This means that net neutrality is coming back and the FCC will once again have regulatory authority to protect consumers from Big Telecom’s worst harms. We have been fighting for this ever since Trump’s FCC chair repealed net neutrality in 2017, so this is certainly worth celebrating.  

The bad news is that the draft order has some issues that must be addressed before the FCC votes next Thursday, April 25th. The one that’s keeping us and leading experts up at night is that the order as currently written would allow internet service providers–Verizon, Comcast, AT&T–to hand pick apps to put in fast lanes.² Instead of banning this, the FCC says it will evaluate these plans one-by-one after they’ve hit the market, a complaint process that can take years. Meanwhile, the Big 3 Wireless companies get to flood the market with all kinds of anti-competitive 5G fast lanes.  

The notion that the FCC should ban slow lanes but not fast lanes is nonsensical.

It flies in the face of core net neutrality principles that say the companies we pay to get online don’t get to pick winners and losers online. If an ISP chooses some apps to be sped-up, other apps will be slowed down because the chosen apps get the best bandwidth.³ This difference gets even bigger when the network is busy, meaning that the apps we all depend on for school, work, and connecting with friends and family could end up in the slow lane. It would also greatly hamper competition and entrench monopolists since ISPs will naturally choose to speed up more popular apps like YouTube and TikTok, and thus slow down smaller apps and start-ups.⁴

Here are two quick steps you can take to demand that the FCC fix the “5G fast lane” problem before they vote next Thursday:  

1. Go to this link and follow the steps to file a comment with the FCC

2. Send a Tweet to the FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel

We’ve been fighting for net neutrality for so long and we want to see it done right! Let’s be sure the FCC prioritizes consumers over corporations and enacts the strongest possible net neutrality rules.

Best,

Evan Greer, Director at Fight for the Future

P.S. We are only able to do rapid response activism because of donations from supporters like you. If you want to help ensure that we continue fighting for digital rights and can quickly address issues as they arise, please consider making a one-time or recurring donation to our team. Thanks!

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1. FCC Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet Order

2. Harmful 5G Fast Lanes Are Coming. The FCC Needs to Stop Them.

3. ISPs can charge extra for fast gaming under FCC’s Internet rules, critics say

4. Tell the FCC It Must Clarify Its Rules to Prevent Loopholes That Will Swallow Net Neutrality Whole