Twitter Unites With FCC For Net Neutrality Push

Twitter just posted a proclaimation on their blog defining their stance on net neutrality. In case it wasn't obvious before, Twitter is in favor of it. Their timing isn't coincidental at all. This week, there is an upcoming net neutrality proposal by Chairman Tom Wheeler of the FCC that aims to actually protect consumers and competition. The FCC will vote on this very proposal on February 26th in their open meeting. The current proposal aims to make the Internet a level playing field once and for all.

Twitter has joined The Internet Association alongside other Internet companies asking the FCC to make a clear ruling that will enforce net neutrality and create rules on the books that ensure all online content is equally accessible without any throttling or blocking. All web traffic should also be treated equality, and a pay-to-prioritize system should be made illegal.

This really is an issue at the heart of Twitter. Twitter has been used by the masses as a tool for democracy. It has a history of giving a voice to the unheard, like when it allowed the youth of Egypt to communicate and gather leading to the Arab Spring in 2011. Twitter realizes that the Internet itself gave its voice to Twitter, so its voice shouldn't be bought and sold at the hands of bureacrats.

For now, it seems that the FCC is avoiding regulation as much as it can. Back in the 1990s, congress handled the regulation of new wireless services with a light touch. This seems to have set a sort of unofficial precedent for the way bureacracies are handling new technological regulation like net neutrality. The FCC should step out from the shadows and make a clear stance that benefits all Internet users on net neutrality.

Source: Twitter