Net neutrality is poised for a comeback as President Biden tries to get last FCC commissioner confirmed

Net neutrality is making a comeback. President Biden, who was vice president under former President Barack Obama when the Federal Communications Commission voted in favor of net neutrality in 2015, has made clear that, if he gets his way, the Trump administration’s efforts to unwind the rules won’t stand. He has a fight ahead of him. Biden started by hiring Tim Wu, the person credited with popularizing the term net neutrality, to work on tech and competition at the National Economic Council. In July, he issued an executive order on competition, encouraging the FCC to consider rulemaking to reinstate net neutrality. The next order of business for Biden is to fill out the FCC according to his vision. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Biden’s pick to lead the agency, has already been confirmed by the Senate. But Republicans have signaled a testiness with the nomination of Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] to join the five-member panel, seeking to cast her as a partisan figure. Sohn was a top aide to Tom Wheeler, the FCC chairman who oversaw net neutrality’s first implementation. With Sohn’s confirmation now in the Senate’s hands, Biden is blazing a path that will make it harder for large internet service providers to exert their market control.