Senator’s AMA received over half a million views, thousands of upvotes, hundreds of comments from Redditors
Washington (July 29, 2022) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) joined Reddit users on the r/politics subreddit Thursday evening to answer questions on the legislative effort to reinstate net neutrality by passing the Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act through Congress. Senator Markey’s Ask Me Anything (AMA) received over half a million views, thousands of upvotes, and hundreds of comments from Redditors energized by the effort to defend access to an open and connected internet.
In 2018, the Senator joined Reddit’s largest communities for an AMA on his efforts then to safeguard the authority of the federal government to promulgate net neutrality protections from President Trump’s Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) attempts to rollback these rules. Yesterday, Senator Markey took to Reddit once again to champion the introduction of his newly introduced Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act, led in partnership with Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Representative Doris Matsui (CA-06), toundo the damage caused by the deregulation of Trump’s FCC and accurately classify broadband internet access as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act.
In case you missed it, here are some of the highlights:
During the AMA, one user asked the Senator: “Senator Markey! How does corporate consolidation affect net neutrality? As a company like Disney continues to acquire smaller companies, is it possible for them to create a preference for their own streaming services and ISPs?”
Senator Markey replied: “Net neutrality is all about increasing competition. Here’s an example: Without net neutrality, powerful social media companies can step on their competition by cutting deals with big broadband providers or throttling speeds to push users to their own streaming services. Passing my legislation would also give the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the tools it needs to stop these practices and promote broadband competition.”
Another user asked the Senator: “What do you consider to have been the most harmful (to consumers) violation of net neutrality since the rules requiring it were eliminated?”
Senator Markey replied: “Broadband providers have already leveraged their power as gatekeepers of the internet to violate net neutrality principles several times. For example, in 2018 Verizon admitted that it throttled California firefighters’ data speeds as those brave men and women battled a devastating wildfire. Net neutrality would ensure there are critical public safety and emergency communication protections that stop this from happening.”
A former Model United States Senate participant asked: “Ed! I got to be you for a Model ‘US Senate’ conference a couple years ago and managed to get you as Minority Leader! My question is: What advice would you give to help persuade people who are skeptical about the climate crisis to get more involved?”
Senator Markey replied: “Thanks for the promotion! I would say that a better world is possible—and we can build that better world together. The one hundred million Americans who have faced extreme heat this past week know that the climate crisis is already here. We can and must invest in clean energy, protect our climate, and make sure that the power it takes to cool our homes is cheaper and more reliable. We can’t agonize. We have to organize. That’s how we build this future – together.”
In addition to AMAs, Senator Markey’s oversight of Big Tech and his championing of consumers and internet users has reached the front page of Reddit several times this year—including his investigation into Amazon’s surveillance and over-policing on its Ring platform.
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