When FCC chairman Tom Wheeler passed the Open Internet Order in February of 2015, it was the culmination of decades of work. After countless advocacy campaigns and legal fights, the order classified internet providers as common carriers — falling under Title II of the Communications Act — which prohibits the companies from blocking or discriminating against traffic as it moves over their network. The move was met with cheers from net neutrality advocates and internet companies like Netflix and Twitter, who saw it as a crucial step toward keeping the playing field level for anyone trying to build things on the internet.
Now, Donald Trump may be poised to undo it.
In the coming weeks, Trump will name his pick for chairman of the FCC, giving him power to set policy and reverse any orders made by previous commissioners. With Republicans in control of both houses of Congress, the incoming president could potentially go even further, passing laws to close off the possibility of similar orders once he’s out of office.
There’s nothing to stop Trump’s FCC from reversing Wheeler’s net neutrality order
It’s still hard to say how Trump himself feels about net neutrality: the only indications are a muddled two-year-old tweet. Still, a number of officials on Trump’s FCC transition team have vocally criticized net neutrality, and many in Washington already see the incoming commission as a chance to hand control of the internet back to service providers like Comcast and Verizon.
Legally, there’s nothing to stop Trump’s FCC from undoing any order made by the previous commission, including Wheeler’s Title II reclassification. The same powers that let Wheeler’s commission grant the open internet order can be used to undo it, and there’s no law holding it in place. The courts have ruled that the order is legal, but that only means the FCC can classify the internet as a communication service, not that it must.