The 5 most ridiculous things the FCC says in its new net neutrality propaganda

A new “fact sheet” sent out by the Federal Communications Commission asks: what if facts are flexible things that we can bend to our preferred reality? It lists a series of “myths” about the commission’s proposal, followed by “facts” that supposedly debunk them — except the facts are often wrong, or directly confirm the myth that they’re trying to debunk. Here are some of the most flagrant examples.

The FCC believes cable companies' skewed investment numbers. The FCC’s big argument against net neutrality is that the policy is hurting investment in broadband networks, thus slowing the expansion of nationwide internet access. And if you only look at the numbers cable companies give you, that would appear to be true. The commission says “broadband investment has fallen for two years in a row — the first time that’s happened outside of a recession in the Internet era.” But it’s looking at numbers provided by USTelecom, a telecom lobbying group. And it’s looking at them quite narrowly, too, only between 2009 and 2014 for comparison. If you take a broader view, it’s clear that broadband investment had already been declining before net neutrality was put in place. Business Insider’s Steve Kovach asked the commission about this last week, and a senior FCC official declined to elaborate. The FCC doesn’t provide any further detail here either. The stories that ISPs tell their investors is also very different from the stories they tell the FCC. And while there have been measurable dips in investment, it’s partly due to things like acquisitions and oil prices (something even the telecom industry admits).