Net Neutrality: The FCC’s Longest Running Soap Opera Nobody Watches

KEY POINTS

•The FCC introduced the Open Internet Order in 2010 to stop ISPs from blocking lawful internet traffic under Obama.
•Courts blocked or overturned net neutrality rules multiple times, with major reversals in 2014, 2017, and most recently 2025.
•Despite hopes for a solid net neutrality comeback in 2024, a court struck down the rules within months, continuing the cycle.

For 15 years, net neutrality has been the government’s equivalent of a rebellious toddler: always defying adulthood but never quite growing up. It started back in 2010 with Obama’s FCC passing the Open Internet Order, which bravely told ISPs, 'No blocking or throttling, please.' Then a court, probably bored one afternoon, blocked it at the ISPs’ insistence, as if saying 'Hold my beer.' Five years later, 2015 gave us a reboot framework just to have it yanked away in 2017 because President Trump thought it was uncool. Flash forward to 2024, FCC tries for a comeback, but the victory lasted mere months before the sixth circuit decided it was time for another plot twist. The never-ending saga could rival any daytime drama on basic cable, except here the prize is not a person, but your ability to stream cat videos at normal speed.