AT&T backs Trump plan, demands “neutrality” on Facebook, Amazon, and Google

Enlarge / A man walks with an umbrella outside of AT&T corporate headquarters on March 13, 2020, in Dallas, Texas. (credit: Getty Images | Ronald Martinez)

AT&T is supporting President Trump's crackdown on Big Tech, arguing in a blog post yesterday that online platforms should have to uphold "neutrality" on the Internet. The debate over websites ignited by Trump's petition is more important than the years-long debate over net neutrality rules applied to Internet service providers, AT&T claimed. The company said it will file comments with the Federal Communications Commission this week as the FCC continues its review of the Trump administration's petition.

The phrase "net neutrality" almost always refers to Internet service providers like AT&T, not websites. The general idea is that ISPs should have to act as neutral conduits, connecting Internet users to any (legal) website or online service they want to access and without forcing websites to pay tolls to reach users.

When the Obama-era FCC imposed net neutrality rules in 2015-prohibiting ISPs from blocking or throttling traffic and from giving priority to Web services in exchange for payment-AT&T sued the commission in an attempt to overturn the rules. That lawsuit failed, but AT&T and other ISPs got their wish when the Trump-era FCC deregulated broadband and eliminated net neutrality rules.

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