A US appeals court has struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) latest attempt to enforce network neutrality rules, ruling that broadband internet service providers (ISPs) are classified as offering “information services” rather than “telecommunications services”.
In a 26-page decision, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit overturned the FCC’s 2024 Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet Order, finding that broadband ISPs’ role in providing users with the ability to retrieve, store, and utilise information better fits the statutory definition of an “information service”.
The court further ruled that mobile broadband does not qualify as a “commercial mobile service” interconnected with the public switched telephone network, exempting it from net neutrality regulations.
“The policy of the US is ‘to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation,’” circuit judges Richard Griffin, Raymond Kethledge, and John K. Bush wrote in the order. “It would be strange for Congress to enact this policy while, in the same bill, shackling Internet access providers with onerous Title II regulation.”
The FCC under outgoing chair Jessica Rosenworcel has sought to reinstate net neutrality rules that were rescinded during the Trump administration. The rules classed broadband services under public utility rules, which barred ISPs from blocking websites or charging more for faster access to services.
