These days, it seems like everyone on all political pedigrees wants the federal government to regulate internet access, prices, and online content. They want the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to act as arbiter of who can connect to the internet and what they can and cannot say.
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. (Related article: James Carter: Kamala Harris' tax hikes would make gold worthless)
The first was a recent decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which wisely Put on hold The FCC is using illegal powers to regulate internet access. The Biden-Harris Administration wants to treat the internet as a regulated public utility, or “community carrier,” despite the fact that costs have fallen and over 90% of Americans already have access to high-speed internet.
All of this has happened without government interference. Private companies like Google, Apple, AT&T, and Verizon have made near-universal access possible in order to attract more customers. Research that Unleashes Prosperity It turns out that federal regulations actually hinder internet connectivity.
A study by economist Casey Mulligan of the University of Chicago Found The costs of FCC regulation actually fall disproportionately on low-income households.
The second event was the Biden-HarrisInfrastructure BillThe Internet Network Association, which has spent billions of dollars to expand access to the Internet under the guise of “net neutrality,” has been an embarrassing bureaucratic failure. Three years later, despite spending $42 billion to expand high-speed connections to rural and urban areas, Almost no households You're connected.
Brendan Carr, the FCC's ranking Republican commissioner, Found The agency “has not committed a single person to these funds. In fact, it says construction projects won't begin until 2025 at the earliest.”
So much for “high speed” internet.
Finally, and most frighteningly, Meta/Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg Letter of August 26thThe company acknowledged to the House Judiciary Committee that the Biden administration had pressured it to “censor” COVID-19 content about health practices during the pandemic and vaccine safety.
In July 2021, President Joe Biden said that social media platforms like Facebook “Kill someoneZuckerberg's letter came as the Biden administration released a muddled explanation that it was trying to save lives, without even apologizing for the flagrant violation of the First Amendment, after the company accused Facebook of allowing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines to appear on its platform.
How would “progressives” have responded if this blatant and dangerous government infringement of the rights of free speech and a free press had been ordered by the Trump administration? This incident is especially chilling given that the real source of misinformation about COVID-19 was the government itself.
Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have successfully advocated for economic shutdowns, shutdown Schools have cost American lives than I was saved.
Within the space of just a few weeks, these three incidents each offered important lessons about why access to the internet and digital services must remain unregulated if America is to continue to dominate the technological revolution of the digital age.
Just 20 years ago, only half of Americans had access to internet service. Today, 19 in 20 households have access to the internet at home via smartphone.
A government content police would use politics to impede Americans' access to information. Does misinformation spread on the internet? Of course it does. But misinformation is spread every day in the New York Times, on CNN, on talk radio, and even on social media. Government agencies, etc. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But the alternative to a free press is to rely on governments and politicians for the truth – and that would be a real “danger to democracy”.
Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, co-founder of Unleash Prosperity, and economic adviser to Donald Trump.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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