In response, seven states and Puerto Rico
enacted their own net neutrality policies.
The most expansive effort of this sort was in
California, which started enforcing the law last
year, with potentially significant consequences
for the rest of the U.S.
The Trump administration sued to block
California’s 2018 law, preventing it from taking
effect for years, but the Biden administration has
dropped that lawsuit.
Proponents of net neutrality cheered the court’s
decision, but called for federal net neutrality laws.
“This win is significant because it offers
protections to people in our most populous
state and drives the national conversation
forward,” said Matt Wood, vice president of
policy and general counsel of consumer
advocacy group Free Press, in a statement. “Yet
tremendous as it is, we still need the Biden FCC
to reclaim its authority not just for nationwide
open-internet rules, but for policies promoting
affordable, resilient, just and reasonable internet
connections for everyone.”
Big telecom companies oppose the stricter
regulation that comes with the net neutrality
rules and have fought it fiercely in court. They
say the regulations can undermine investment
in broadband and introduce uncertainty about
what were acceptable business practices.
They say they prefer a national approach to a
state-by-state one, but the industry has fought
prior federal net neutrality rules. But with a
Senate divided 50-50 between the parties,
legislation in Congress may not draw enough
support to pass.