On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission voted to demolish net neutrality, or the rules regulating how big broadband internet service providers connect consumers to the internet.
Net neutrality regulations were implemented during the Obama administration with the aim of providing Americans of all income classes access to a free and open internet—preventing ISPs like Comcast and Verizon from blocking certain websites or charging high premiums for certain services and/or content—but FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Trump appointee who pals around with Pizzagaters, has been a major opponent of net neutrality from Day 1, arguing that costs will somehow go down for consumers if the big telecom companies are given free rein.
“The Federal Communications Commission did something absolutely despicable today: They voted to put an end to net neutrality,” announced Jimmy Kimmel.
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The late-night host dedicated a portion of his Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue Thursday night to the net neutrality vote, which ruled 3-2 (three Republicans for, two Democrats very much against) in favor of dismantling the regulations.
“Now, as long as they tell us they’re doing it now, internet service providers will be allowed to slow down or block web traffic to any website or streaming service they like—which benefits the big telecom companies, and does the opposite for all of us,” argued Kimmel.
He continued: “They did this even though 83 percent of Americans support net neutrality, and 2 million of the people who supposedly wrote to the FCC to opposite net neutrality were bogus. Many turned out to be dead people; someone stole the identities of dead people to help push this through.”
Indeed, this week the New York Attorney General’s Office stated that “As many as 2 million identities were stolen to leave fake comments in support of the FCC’s decision to kill net neutrality.”
“So now, we have to hope Congress agrees to vote on and reverse it,” offered Kimmel. “But I just want to say, thank you, President Trump. Thanks to you—and this jackhole you appointed to run the FCC—big corporations are about to take full control of the internet. So Merry Christmas, everybody.”
The president’s dimwitted son Don Jr. is apparently under the impression that Obama appointed Pai chairman of the FCC.
He is very, very bad at Twitter.
