When it imposed its net neutrality rules on the telecom industry, the FCC was fixing a problem that didn’t exist.
While proponents of Net Neutrality have long claimed that the regulations are necessary to impose fairness for internet usage, access to the internet has only become more widespread and service today is far faster for users – including ‘ordinary’ people – than it was twenty years ago.
Nevertheless, when the FCC in recent months – now under pressure from the Trump Administration – announced that it may step back from net neutrality, supporters immediately began claiming that net neutrality was necessary to keep internet access affordable and “fair.”
In truth, net neutrality has never fostered fairness or better access for consumers, and has instead created conditions that will encourage less competition and more monopolistic power for large firms within the industry.
Instead of relying on the market place to allocate goods, net neutrality ensures that politics will determine who gets what, instead. This is hardly a recipe for fairness or neutrality.
In the marketplace, goods and services tend to be allocated according to those who demand the goods the most. Where demand is highest, prices are highest.
This post was published at Ludwig von Mises Institute on July 18, 2017.
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