North Carolina Follows Other States Into Net Neutrality Fight

A Democratic State Senator from Wake County says he'll introduce a bill this session to protect net neutrality in North Carolina.

Sen. Jay Chaudhuri's statement is following in the footsteps of other states that have already taken action.

Critics say the repeal of Obama-era net neutrality protections would allow service providers to either close or slow down parts of the internet, potentially favoring some content over the other.

Now North Carolina will follow other states in debating whether or not provide net neutrality protections.

In reality, the Republican-controlled legislature is likely to kill the bill. And Wake Forest University political scientist John Dinan says states that act are on dicey legal ground.

“The legal status of any state net neutrality policies is at best dubious, the reason being is that when the Federal Communications Commission repealed net neutrality, they also said state governments could not enact similar net neutrality policies,” Dinan says.

The FCC said it would roll back net neutrality protections June 11th, but it's possible Congress could intervene.