In Net Neutrality Push, Internet Giants on the Sidelines

Silicon Valley’s giant companies have been quiet lately on the question of whether the government should protect an open Internet, which they’ve previously argued is vital to innovation. Don’t count on them staking out a stronger position even though President Barack Obama has stepped into the fray, and Washington looks to be gearing up for an epic battle over the rules that govern the Internet.

In another era, the White House’s position might have elicited squeals of joy from the technology giants, which have long maintained that the future of innovation online depends on such strict net neutrality rules. But Google, which was once the industry’s most ardent supporter of net neutrality, and Facebook, which could mobilize millions of supporters through its service, both declined to comment on Obama’s position. Instead, they joined a supportive statement put out by the Internet Association, a trade group that represents a coalition of technology companies, including Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Twitter and PayPal. The muted response was not surprising. Why not? They may be too big to bother with an issue that primarily affects the smallest Internet companies. And that is a shame.