Federal court suspends reimposed “net neutrality” rules

The return of Obama-era net neutrality rules will be temporarily suspended until early next month, according to an appeals court order released Friday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit temporarily suspended until August 5 rules that the Biden administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to restore in April.

The temporary suspension implemented comes after several broadband providers filed a motion in favor of suspending the FCC’s restored rules.

Net neutrality rules aim to prevent broadband providers from blocking or throttling Internet traffic to some websites and speeding up access to others that pay additional fees.

It was a big push for Democrats on the committee, but the agenda was delayed as Congress stalled to confirm a full board and give Democrats the majority on the committee. The agency voted 3-2 along party lines to revive the rules in April.

The Hill has reached out to the FCC for comment.

The rules were implemented by former President Obama in 2015, but the Trump administration repealed them in 2017.

Net neutrality advocates like Democratic FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel say the rules help ensure a fair and open Internet.

But critics like Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr argue that the rules expand government control over the Internet to solve a problem that has not been as widespread as supporters of the rules have warned.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story