Netflix Joins Internet Association’s Efforts to Preserve Net Neutrality

On Friday, Netflix announced it would join the Internet Association’s efforts to preserve net neutrality.

The streaming giant took to Twitter to make its statement, saying that it would be seeing the FCC in court.

“In 2018, the Internet is united in defense of [Net Neutrality]. As for the FCC, we will see you in court,” the tweet read.

The comment came after the account retweeted the Internet Association’s statement announcing its intent to intervene in judicial action to preserve net neutrality.

Netflix’s announcement means that it will join in on the judicial intervention to preserve the open internet, and challenge the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of the net neutrality rules put into place by the Obama Administration.

Netflix isn’t alone in its resolve to fight back against the FCC’s ruling. Attorneys general from across the country plan to file a legal challenge to the FCC’s decision, and individual companies, like Etsy, have discussed plans to sue to block the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom order.

The statement from Netflix marks an official intent to take action, but the streaming company hinted in December that this option was possible.

“We’re disappointed in the decision to gut [Net Neutrality] protections that ushered in an unprecedented era of innovation, creativity & civic engagement. This is the beginning of a longer legal battle. Netflix stands [with] innovators, large & small, to oppose this misguided FCC order,” the streaming platform wrote in a statement on Twitter following the vote in December.

Following the repeal of the 2015 net neutrality rules, internet service providers are no longer barred from blocking or throttling content, or dividing the web into paid fast lanes in which content companies can buy quicker access to readers.

Others, including FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, claim the rollback of net neutrality rules will halt the federal government from “micromanaging the internet.” Instead, the President Trump-appointed chairman says the change will allow for free market competition and the creation of jobs for smaller ISPs and web companies.

“The Internet is the greatest free market innovation in history,” Pai said before the controversial vote. “What is responsible for the phenomenal development of the Internet? It certainly wasn’t heavy-handed government regulation.”