FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2017
Media contact: Mark Stanley, [email protected], 202.681.7582
The following statement can be attributed to Demand Progress Director of Communications Mark Stanley:
“It’s hard to imagine something further from the administration’s promise to ‘drain the swamp’ than what FCC Chairman and former Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai is looking to pull off Thursday. The plan from Pai to gut net neutrality at the behest of big telecom is breathtaking in its disregard for the public. After millions of comments to the FCC and thousands of people taking to the streets across all 50 states to protest Pai’s plan last week, it couldn’t be more clear that Americans demand strong net neutrality protections.
“Yet Pai is hellbent on running roughshod over the ability of ordinary Americans to communicate and innovate freely, by pushing a policy that serves no one but the powerful telecom industry that once employed him. The FCC’s move to allow monopolistic internet providers to slow down and block content at their choosing will go down as a historically bad decision by unelected Washington bureaucrats — a decision that will negatively impact millions upon millions of Americans, Republicans and Democrats alike, who rely on the internet for work, education, news, entertainment, and so much more. We urge all members of congress, and particularly Republicans who have not yet spoken out, to act in the interests of their constituents instead of Verizon and Comcast by calling on the FCC to cancel Thursday’s vote.”
Demand Progress has been a leader in the fight for net neutrality, helping to secure protections in 2015 through organizing and grassroots mass mobilization. In recent months, Demand Progress—in collaboration with Free Press Action Fund, Fight for the Future, and more—has helped organize the massive July 12th Day of Action for net neutrality, generated millions of comments to the FCC, organized over 700 protests in all 50 states, and helped drive nearly one million calls to lawmakers in opposition to Pai’s plan through battleforthenet.com.
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