X

Net neutrality supporters send the FCC 2 million comments

"Day of Action" protest organizers also said millions of emails were sent to Congress urging them to keep a free and open internet.

Terry Collins Staff Reporter, CNET News
Terry writes about social networking giants and legal issues in Silicon Valley for CNET News. He joined CNET News from the Associated Press, where he spent the six years covering major breaking news in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before the AP, Terry worked at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and the Kansas City Star. Terry's a native of Chicago.
Terry Collins
2 min read

Apparently, supporters for net neutrality have spoken.

Fight for the Future, a nonprofit activist group that helped organize Wednesday's "Day of Action" online protest, said Thursday the Federal Communications Commission received more than 2 million comments urging to keep a free and open internet. That total nearly triples a similar action protesters took during an "Internet Slow Down Day" in Sept. 2014.

screen-shot-2017-07-12-at-10-43-08-am

Fight for the Future, a non-profit activist group helping organize the protest to protect net neutrality, says more 2 million comments were sent to the FCC in support of the existing net neutrality regulations. 

Fight for the Future

Also, Fight for the Future said protesters sent more than 5 million emails and made some 124,000 calls to Congress asking to protect current regulations. Another protest organizer, Battle for the Net, said tens of millions of people saw protest messages on sites including Netflix, Airbnb, Reddit and Medium supporting net neutrality. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg even weighed in, posting a similar message of support. His comments received more than 83,000 likes.

The numbers from the online protest come as the FCC is taking public comments on the agency's proposal to roll back net neutrality rules passed in 2015 to prevent broadband companies from favoring their own content over competitors' services or charging fees to deliver faster service.

Activists and online companies argue that a rules change would give broadband and wireless companies too much control over the internet.

Wednesday's protest was "a historic moment," as some of the smallest to the most popular sites around came together for a common cause, said Evan Greer, a Fight for the Future campaign director.

"And this doesn't end today -- this protest is the kickoff of a sustained campaign to keep the pressure on lawmakers and the FCC to do the right thing," she said. "This is just our opening salvo, and it's a massive one."

CNET Magazine: Check out a sample of the stories in CNET's newsstand edition.

Logging Out: Welcome to the crossroads of online life and the afterlife.