In a significant setback for the outgoing Biden administration, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission lacked the legal authority to reinstate net neutrality rules.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit invalidates the FCC’s 2024 “Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet Order,” which reintroduced regulations originally enacted in 2015 under the Obama administration. Net neutrality, which is the requirement that internet service providers do not charge differently based on the source or destination of data, has been a political flashpoint for over a decade.
The three-judge panel concluded that broadband internet service providers cannot be classified as “telecommunications services” under Title II of the Communications Act, a designation that underpins net neutrality enforcement.
The court’s…
