Just as the FCC released more than 1.4GB worth of net neutrality comments, President Barack Obama clarified his own thoughts on the proposed rules.
During Tuesday's U.S.-Africa business forum, the president took a strong stance against net neutrality.
“[W]hat has facilitated the incredible value that’s been built by companies like Google and Facebook and so many others—all the applications that you find on your smartphone—is that there are not restrictions, there are not barriers to entry for new companies who have a good idea to use this platform that is open to create value. And it is very important, I think, that we maintain that,” Obama told 21-year-old Takunda Chingonzo, a young entrepreneur from Zimbabwe working in the wireless tech space.
Net neutrality has been making headlines all year, after the FCC’s rules were struck down by an appeals court, forcing the agency to return to the drawing board. But when it returned with the idea of implementing “fast lanes"—a process by which companies charge a premium for high-speed connections—the world pushed back.
