In 2015, the Obama administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) successfully re-classified internet service providers (ISPs) as “public utilities” or “common carriers” under Title II of the Communications Act. This sweeping public policy change – more commonly known as net neutrality – was a bridge too far for most Republicans. This measure that abandoned the light touch regulatory approach that allowed the internet to grow and thrive was a power grab. That is why one of the first big acts of the new Republican administration in 2017 was to roll back that reclassification.
Unfortunately, it seems the principles that undergirded this key public policy win have gone by the wayside. Republican lawmakers, in an effort to lash out at perceived left-wing bias at tech companies have adopted the rhetoric of their Democratic counterparts on public utilities and common carriers. Now that net neutrality has once again reared its ugly head on Capitol Hill, there are increasingly few Republicans who actually have a leg to stand on to oppose it this time around.
Obama-era Democrats rested their arguments in favor of Title II regulations on the notion that ISPs should not be able to favor or block certain content on their networks. Conservatives at the time rightly pointed out that there had been no such examples of this “throttling” of content and that the Title II regulations would be so broad they would have negative consequences across the internet ecosystem, decreasing investment and innovation. Further, many conservatives made the point that ISPs enjoy strong speech and property rights and are free to manage their networks as they see fit.
Now many on the right seem unwilling to extend those same rights to tech companies such as search engines and social media platforms.
At a committee hearing in October of 2020, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) berated Twitter founder Jack Dorsey about their content moderation policies, asking, “Who elected you and put you in charge of what the American people are allowed to hear?” The obvious implication from that question is that it should be elected officials, not the social media companies themselves, who get to determine what is posted on these platforms. Cruz was one of net neutrality’s foremost opponents in 2015.
Cruz’s Senate colleague, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) goes even further, describing big tech companies as the “gravest threat to American liberty since the monopolies of the Gilded Age,” in his recent book, The Tyranny of Big Tech (available on Amazon). Hawley claims bias by tech companies threatens the health of American democracy.
Oddly enough, when Democrats tried to revive net neutrality in 2019, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) similarly proclaimed, “I join my colleagues in defense of the free and open internet, which is a pillar of our democracy.”
Some more other GOP figures have gone as far as to say the quiet part out loud. Republican congressional candidate Joe Kent (R-Wash.) said not more than a year ago, “Break up big tech, seize their infrastructure, treat them like a public utility.” Similarly, Republican senate candidate Mark McCloskey (R-Mo.) said simply, “Big Tech should be treated as a public utility.” The same idea was also suggested as far back as 2018 by former Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa).
All of these lawmakers are now seeking legislative attacks on social media companies. Many of these attacks include the repeal of the law commonly referred to as Section 230, a liability shield for all users and providers of internet services which critics like Cruz and Hawley disingenuously describe as a “subsidy” for big tech. Incidentally, Section 230, and its call for an internet “unfettered by Federal or State regulation” was literally the first thing cited in prior Republican FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom Order, which repealed the onerous Title II regulations.
In the midst of the GOP’s battle with big tech, Democrats have once again renewed their effort to implement these Title II regulations. It should come as no surprise they’ve incorporated much of the GOP’s recent messaging into their own. The primary House sponsor, Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) said, “We need clear rules of the road that prevent ISPs from blocking, slowing and prioritizing web traffic.” Democratic FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel added, “Everyone should be able to go where they want and do what they want online without their broadband provider making choices for them.”
If you were to swap out “broadband providers” or “ISPs” for “social media companies,” you would have a dead-on match for the rhetoric being espoused by prominent Senate Republicans like Cruz and Hawley.
Net neutrality, and the potential damage that comes with it, is back at the forefront of American politics due in no small part to the voluntary ceding of the principles on this issue done by many conservative leaders. If they continue playing with this big government fire – all for the sake of sticking it to social media executives they don’t like – it will eventually grow out of control. They ought to stick to their first instinct – from 2015 – which told them a government incursion on the internet would be disastrous.
