Here’s How The FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules Might Be Throttled Under Trump

President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t commented publicly on the issue of network neutrality since his election, nor has he indicated who he’d nominate to fill Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler’s position or another open commissioner’s seat at the FCC. But some of his top tech advisers have backed calls to reduce the telecommunication regulator’s clout.

"In terms of net neutrality, I think their intention is to deregulate the cable and telephone industry completely," says Ernesto Omar Falcon, legislative counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "I think that’s their intention right off the get-go, and I think that’s a fight that we’ll have to engage in pretty quickly." Traditionally, the FCC doesn’t issue major new policies in the absence of a permanent chair, as will be the case after Chairman Wheeler’s departure, but it’s unclear whether the regulator will maintain that tradition under Trump, Falcon says. But any push to revoke the existing Open Internet Order would require a period of public comment and could potentially spur Congressional hearings as well, he says. And while Republicans and telecom groups have publicly denounced the FCC rules, business groups are also averse to regulatory uncertainty and shifting legal frameworks, says Harold Feld, senior vice president at the pro-neutrality group Public Knowledge.