The Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal net neutrality on December 14. Dismantling the so-called net neutrality regulations will grant broadband providers more power than ever. Companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast will now be able to charge more, block certain websites, and censor content. These corporations now have the power to redefine, reshape, and modify the entire country’s internet experience.
From the very beginning, the FCC has been determined to repeal net neutrality, despite the overwhelming, largely bipartisan, push back from the public. Social media websites and news aggregators like Reddit have been flooded with pro-net neutrality submissions for the past couple of weeks. Almost everyone online seems to be for net neutrality, which has, reportedly, prompted the FCC to come up with a very bizarre and probably illegal way to spread anti-net-neutrality propaganda.
The agency has, reportedly, been using dead people’s social media accounts to spread propaganda and shill for the repeal. Numerous Twitter users posted about this, claiming some of their deceased relatives have “praised” the repeal via their social media accounts. A few Reddit threads about this issue have exploded, with the most popular one being upvoted nearly 70,000 times. American politician and the attorney general of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, started a website through which everyone can check if social media comments were falsely submitted on their behalf. In case someone finds a fake comment submitted with their name and address, they can report it to Mr. Shapiro’s office using the very same website.
Hey, @AjitPaiFCC, today my mom would have turned 71. But she didn't. Because she died in March of 2016. Can you please take the time to explain to me how she made three separate comments in support of ending #NetNeutrality more than a year after she died? cc: @SeanAstin pic.twitter.com/VtdLaB0eGp — Mackenzie Astin (@MackenzieAstin) December 15, 2017
According to the Washington Post, 83 percent of Americans support net neutrality and do not approve of the repeal. Additionally, three out of four Republicans oppose the government’s plan to repeal. This seems to be one of the few issues that most of Congress and most American citizens agree on.
Internet service providers, Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T, however, support the repeal and have, according to Vox, spent over half a billion dollars lobbying the FCC. Ajit Pai, the chairman of the United States Federal Communications Commission and former Verizon employee, seems to be their only ally. Appointed by Barrack Obama in 2012, Mr. Pai has become a poster child of the repeal.
Mr_robasaurus on December 17th, 2017 at 06:18 UTC »
Turns out a lot of people with my same name are for Net Neutrality - Go us.
Wish it mattered though.
AlwaysHopelesslyLost on December 17th, 2017 at 04:49 UTC »
My father died 20 years ago and there is a copy-pasted anti-nn comment in his name.
Of course it coul be somebody with the same first and last name but I have a relatively uncommon last name
wwwhistler on December 17th, 2017 at 01:40 UTC »
this is the link to check if you ID was used to leave comments. https://badcomments.attorneygeneral.gov/
i checked mine and only found the one i actually filled out. i urged them to reconsider what they were doing.