Survey: Most Verifiable FCC Comments Favor Title II Repeal

Broadband for America – whose members include AT&T, CenturyLink, Charter, CTIA – The Wireless Association, Comcast, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), and USTelecom Association, representing ISPS opposed to Title II -- is telling the Federal Communications Commission that a study it commissioned found that – surprise! -- 69.9 percent (8,595,090) of the comments in the FCC network neutrality docket that were not either fake or unverifiable international comments favored repealing Title II classification, while only 29.5 percent (3,622,188) were against repeal.

The study was conducted by data analytics company Emprata. CEO Paul Salasznyk said that the study was "conducted in an independent fashion, forming our own conclusions using the publicly available data." The study found that of the 21.766 million comments assessed, more than 20.684 million "appear to be artificial, international filings, form letters, and duplicative submissions."

Emprata says more than 90 percent of the record-breaking 21 million comments are essentially pre-written form letters. The FCC received about 13 million comments that support the current net neutrality protections, according to the Emprata report, and it received about 8.6 million comments in support of Pai’s push for repeal. Once the form letters drafted by supporters and opponents are removed, the FCC more likely received about 1.7 million unique comments defending net neutrality rules, and about 24,000 unique comments backing Pai’s push to scrap them. In the eyes of net neutrality advocates, that might be something of a win. To be sure, these groups take great offense to the “form letter” label, arguing that it’s perfectly reasonable for web users to click a button and send a petition to their regulators — as millions seem to have done. Even if these comments are subtracted from the total, however, the data shows that Pai’s plan might be more popular with internet providers than with the masses.