Net Neutrality and Big Tech’s Speech Hypocrisy

Social-media giants are under attack for censorship, but a few years ago they positioned themselves as champions of free speech. At issue was “net neutrality,” the Obama-era policy that treated internet service providers like Comcast and AT&T as common carriers—akin to the old Ma Bell monopoly—by prohibiting them from discriminating among content providers, including the social-media sites. Facebook and Twitter turned out to be more threatening than under threat. Broadband providers haven’t attempted to block content or competitors since the Federal Communications Commission repealed net neutrality. But social media, app stores and cloud providers, which were never subject to the rules, all have engaged in censorship repeatedly in recent weeks. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s deregulation encouraged broadband investment, which helps explain why carriers haven’t had to slow speeds amid increased user demand for bandwidth. Mr. Pai also required carriers to make public disclosures of their network-management practices, performance and commercial terms of service and asked the Federal Trade Commission to take action against those that engaged in anticompetitive or unfair and deceptive practices. All this has served consumers well.

[Finley is a member of the Journal’s editorial board]