Rep Pallone: Pai's Proposal Is Threat to Online Speech

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai's effort to roll back Title II classification and rethink Open Internet rules was a threat to free speech online. Ranking Member Pallone, who strongly backed the Open Internet order, said that online dialog is critical to democracy but would be jeopardized by Republicans pushing to overturn the rules.

He said that without net neutrality rules, large corporations can "begin to choke off conversations they don’t like and speed up ones they do." He said network conglomerates that control the infrastructure are buying content, like news outlets, which gives them a financial incentive to give preference to their own news. But he says the incentive could also be political.