When the Obama administration was making its case for crippling new Internet regulations, their biggest cheerleader was the video-streaming company Netflix.
In a letter to Obama’s FCC, Netflix claimed that Internet service providers were plotting to hold “customers hostage with poor performance”, meaning slower speeds, “to extract payments from us.” However, a shocking new report has revealed who wasreally behind the slower internet speeds: Netflix themselves!
Today at the American Action Forum, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly shared his comments on this disturbing new report. Commissioner O’Rielly criticized the FCC for its “regulatory tunnel vision that allowed Netflix to downgrade its service to certain consumers while crying wolf about the potential for [Internet providers] to do the same thing, and demanding an overhaul of the entire communications landscape to stop them.” These so-called “net neutrality” regulations (prominently championed by Netflix) leave the American people on the hook for a massive new Universal Service Fund Internet tax.
Commissioner O’Rielly blasted Netflix for misleading the American people on the real culprit behind the slower Internet connection speeds. Michael O’Rielly stated that “the news is deeply disturbing, and justly generates calls for government, and maybe even Congressional, investigations.” O’Rielly also warned that “a company cannot knowingly make misrepresentations and inaccurate statements before the Commission” and suggested that the FCC “review all of the comments filed by Netflix to see if there has been any violation of the Commission rules.”
American Commitment will keep you updated as this story unfolds, and we will continue to fight for the repeal of Obama’s Internet Takeover and the looming Internet tax hikes.
FCC Commissioner: “Disturbing” Netflix Report Justly Generates Calls for Investigation
