Fake comments may have influenced the FCC’s decision to overturn net neutrality
In 2017, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received millions of petitions advocating the removal of net neutrality rules. But the overwhelming majority of them were sent by bots. Internet providers and telecoms claim they have nothing to do with the current situation. Here’s how it happened.
How was canceled
Four years ago, the US FCC voted to end net neutrality in the country. Up to this point, ISPs had no right to differentiate traffic in their networks. The federal agency’s decision allowed them to do this. However, even before the cancellation of net neutrality, representatives of the FCC conducted a survey in order to find out the public opinion. In total, officials received more than 20 million citizens’ appeals, many of whom considered the rejection of net neutrality a blessing. They wrote that this would promote competition, improve the quality of the Internet connection and reduce the cost of connection.
The astonishing unanimity in the comments raised questions even then. Experts from the Pew Research Center in Washington, DC, selectively analyzed the reports and discoveredthat 57% of them were sent from temporary or duplicate email addresses. Based on this, experts suggested that most of the complaints received by the FCC were fake. In early May, their suspicions were confirmed by the office of the US attorney general. Law enforcers published the results of their own investigation, according to which 18 million emails were indeed fake.
How it happened
Even before the FCC vote to end net neutrality, the nonprofit Broadband for America, where are included large internet providers, hired several marketing agencies with the aim of influencing public opinion. They had to educate citizens about the benefits of leaving net neutrality and persuade them to share their point of view with the FCC. Instead, the hired companies took a different path – they compiled and sent over 8.5 million fake communications to the Communications Commission.
Some of the letters were sent on behalf of real people who, of course, did not know about it. To gather information, marketing firms used a website that offered gift cards and other bonuses in exchange for registration. But some of the authors of the appeals to the FCC were completely fictional. Also, law enforcement officers managed to fixthat personal data obtained as a result of a major leak were also used.
Of the 18 million fake messages sent to the FCC, there were also those that supported the idea of maintaining net neutrality. Most of them sent a nineteen-year-old student who wrote a special generator of texts and names. In this way, he wanted to push the US Communications Commission to a decision to keep the net neutrality rules in place.
What’s next
General office prosecutor already decided fate three organizations that were involved in the illegal collection of comments – Fluent, Opt-Intelligence and React2Media. They must pay a $ 4.4 million fine and audit the processes to prevent a repeat of the situation. The same firms participated in other campaigns not related to lobbying the interests of providers – law enforcement officers also they will be checked…
As for the telecom operators and the Broadband for America association, they will not be prosecuted. According to the prosecutor, the team was unable to find evidence that the operators knew about the activities of the hired firms, although they ignored several “red flags” that should have raised suspicion. It is unclear whether the FCC will change its decision on net neutrality in light of the latest developments. But agency representatives in an interview with The New York Times notedthat they plan to revise the mechanisms of interaction with citizens in order to conduct a more effective and open dialogue.
Additional reading in our blog post on the site:
Our serial about the battle for net neutrality:
History of the issue
Operator Wars and First Courts
Judicial wars and public protests
Two and a half years of Net Neutrality
New Hope
