Appeals court blocks FCC’s efforts to bring back net neutrality rules

On Thursday, a three-judge panel struck down net neutrality rules that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had hoped would stop broadband providers from varying speeds for users when connecting to different websites.

In his opinion, US circuit judge Richard Allen Griffin wrote that the FCC lacked the authority to impose the net neutrality rules under the "telecommunications service" provision of the Communications Act.

"The core of the dispute here," Griffin wrote, "is whether Broadband Internet Service Providers" like Xfinity or Spectrum offer a "telecommunications service" or an "information service." Because judges agreed they offer the latter, the court ruled that they could not be subjected to the FCC's net neutrality policies.

In the ruling, Griffin explained how the FCC has gone back and forth between considering broadband providers as either a telecommunications or information service, changing its position on net neutrality depending on which party is in office since ...