EDITOR’S NOTE: We stand in solidarity with the organizers behind BattleForTheNet.com, and with that said, we are sharing a statement released on Thursday afternoon, right after the FCC voted to repeal Net Neutrality.
December 14, 2017 — Today, the FCC is voted to gut net neutrality protections amid widespread protests and overwhelming opposition from across the political spectrum. Ajit Pai’s extreme proposal would hand giant telecom companies like Verizon and Comcast the power to control what we see and do online with new fees, throttling, and censorship. But that’s not going to happen.
The organizations behind BattleForTheNet.com and Team Internet (Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, and Free Press Action Fund) are announcing a massive Internet-wide campaign to demand that our elected officials in Congress use a Resolution of Disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn the FCC’s illegitimate rule-making. The backlash to the FCC’s attack on the Internet has reached a boiling point. Now every member of Congress will have to go on the record and decide whether to stand up for the free and open Internet or face the political consequences of awakening its wrath in an election year.
A CRA only requires a simple majority in the Senate and House, increasingly within reach given the unprecedented backlash, and Republican lawmakers already publicly criticizing the plan.
The telecom industry spent millions lobbying and spreading misinformation to pit Internet users against each other and turn net neutrality into a partisan issue. They have failed. Net neutrality has more public support now than it ever has before. Internet users are educated, outraged, and strategic, and they know that Congress has the power to overturn the FCC vote. Lawmakers cannot hide from their constituents on this issue. The Internet has given ordinary people more power than ever before. We’re going to fight tooth and nail to make sure no one takes that power away.
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In recent months, there have been more than 1 million phone calls to Congress through BattleForTheNet.com alone, and nearly half a million Internet users joined “Team Internet” and connected through text messages to engage in on-the-ground activism, including more than 1,000 protests, constituent meetings with lawmakers, and town halls across the country. Thousands of startups, small businesses, and major websites have participated in online actions that reached hundreds of millions of Internet users across the web.
