Everyone these days — on both sides of the political spectrum — seems to want the feds to regulate internet access, prices and online content. They want the Federal Communications Commission to be the referee in terms of who gets connected to the internet and what can and can’t be said.
But three recent events highlight why this is a dangerous idea, and why an internet free of government regulation and policing is the best policy.
The first event was the recent 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that wisely struck down FCC’s illegal power grab to regulate internet access. The Biden-Harris administration has wanted to treat the internet as a regulated utility — a “common carrier” — despite falling costs and the fact that well over 90% of Americans already have access to high-speed internet. All of this WITHOUT any government interference, thank you. Private companies from Google to Apple to AT&T and Verizon have created near-universal access to gain more customers, and an Unleash Prosperity study has found that federal rules have actually impeded internet connections.
A study by University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan has found that the cost of FCC regulations has actually disproportionately fallen on lower-income households.
The second event was the recent finding that the Biden-Harris “infrastructure bill,” which dedicated billions of dollars to increasing access to the internet under the guise of “net neutrality” has been an embarrassing bureaucratic flop. Despite some $42 billion authorized to expand high-speed connectivity to rural and inner-city areas, it turns out that three years later almost no households have been connected. Brendan Carr, the senior Republican commissioner of the FCC, found that the agency “has not connected even 1 person with those funds. In fact, it now says that no construction projects will even start until 2025 at earliest.”
So much for “high-speed” internet.
Finally, and most chilling of all, there was Meta/Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Aug. 26 letter, which admitted to the House Judiciary Committee that the Biden administration had pressured the company to “censor” COVID-19 content relating to health practices and vaccine safety during the pandemic.
In July 2021, President Joe Biden declared that social media platforms like Facebook “are killing people” for allowing misinformation about coronavirus vaccines to be posted on its platform. When the Zuckerberg letter was announced, the Biden administration failed to even apologize for its gross violation of the First Amendment and issued a mishmash explanation that they were trying to save lives.
One wonders what the reaction of “progressives” would have been if this blatant and dangerous government violation of freedom of speech and the right of a free press had been ordered by the Trump administration. The incident is especially chilling given that the real dispenser of misinformation about COVID-19 came from the government itself. It was Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that successfully advocated for lockdowns of the economy and shutdowns of schools, which killed far more Americans than were saved.
In a matter of weeks, these three incidents each provided important lessons on why the internet and access to digital services must remain regulation-free if we want America to continue to dominate the digital-age technology revolution.
Just over 20 years ago, only half of Americans had access to internet services. Now almost 19 out of 20 households have home access to the internet on their smartphones.
If we have government content police, we are likely to have politics interfering with Americans’ access to information. Is there misinformation spread over the internet? Of course, yes. But there is misinformation spread every day in The New York Times, on CNN and talk radio, and even by government agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But the alternative to a free press is to rely on the government and politicians for the truth. And that would be a real “danger to democracy.”
Stephen Moore is a cofounder of Unleash Prosperity. He is also an economic advisor to the Trump campaign. His new book, “The Trump Economic Miracle,” coauthored with Arthur Laffer, will be released later this month.
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It is bad enough that MSM is controlled by “SPOILER POLICE” now. Government regulating the internet would be the Gestapo hauling in every person that speaks or writes against the government policies which the nation is currently heading for. This is another step losing the current freedoms that are now being squelched.
Business and government can work together to set standards for things like aviation rules . That would not be going against the Conservative principles of Limited Government. The sort of interference with a communication business as described in this article would be going against the Limited government principle that is at the foundation of Conservative beliefs. Aviation safety needs to have rules,regulations, laws to make it possible for planes to fly from one place to another with a minimal risk of collision . It. would be contrary to common sense to think about excluding the Federal Aviation Administration from aviation .Standards that are necessary for flight safety are best developed by information from experienced aviation businesses and. government safety professionals – the combination of business ideas and government safety ideas – the proper balance – provides for systems that are in the interest of the fundamental purpose of aviation – to fly to a destination without having an accident. This is very different than the internet situation – primarily because of the Freedom of Speech principle. Government should stay out of matters that are established practices protected by the Right of Freedom of Speech.
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Government interference? The Internet was originally DARPANet. Get real. Without government interference, there is no Internet. What you really want is government to follow the law. Never happen. The modern U.S. government has more in common with George III than anything either the founders or the framers ever envisioned.
Bust up Big Tech: Meta, Google, others NOW
When the gov’t is involved, national debt explodes and individual freedoms for We The People shrink dramatically.
Good article. I agree, keep government out of the internet.
The Government is better off putting all out efforts to prevent Cyberattacks to our systems. What is purpose of SPACE FORCE that Trump created, can they be the fighting force against Cyberattacks? We need to go on the defense now & not after more attacks. And the use of Cryptocurrency ransom payments to these hackers must be stopped now before it gets any worse.
Since most get their information not from the MSM but podcasts, I’m surprised Democrats haven’t tried implementation of the “Fairness Doctrine” yet.
I truly hope the scribbler of this article includes speech condemning the ongoing atrocities and genocidal activities by the Israeli Government. I’ve seen way too many self proclaimed “conservatives” bemoan censorship where it effects their pet issues but then fall into lockstep with insane lobbyists from AIPAC and call for NO anti Israel speech or even thought.
Free speech is free speech. Support the 1st Amendment fully or don’t.