What is the FCC’s net neutrality rules?

After the FCC voted on Tuesday to approve rules that would prohibit ISPs from blocking, throttling, or slowing the transmission of online content, some in the broadband industry are expressing disappointment that the agency did not use more specific language that would have prevented these actions.

The move was intended to clarify the agency’s previous language that prohibited such actions only against “harmful content.”

But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai argued that the original language “may not have been adequate,” and that he would have preferred a “more robust language that specifically prohibits discrimination against Internet content providers.”

Pai’s comments on the vote came just two days after a new analysis from the New America Foundation, a progressive think tank, showed that ISPs have used the new rules to block at least 5.6 million Web traffic on an average day.

And the new analysis also found that ISPs blocked an additional 2.5 million Web requests in the past month, with some providers blocking requests from people whose computers or phones they could not reach.

Pai also argued that broadband providers are abusing their dominance in the market, arguing that “there’s no such thing as competition.”

Pai said on the House floor Tuesday that “it is our job as FCC to protect the free and open Internet, not to promote the growth of private companies or their own corporate interests.”

He also cited recent FCC rulings that have found that companies like Comcast have been able to “determine and manipulate the content and usage patterns of the Internet.”

The FCC has been under fire for its failure to address the problems of ISPs in the wake of the 2015 Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger.

In February, Pai ordered the agency to reevaluate the agency and ensure that it “protects the free, open Internet and preserves the competitive position of broadband providers.”

The next month, Pai announced that the FCC would be expanding its review of the merger to include “federal and state laws that restrict or prohibit unfair or deceptive practices in broadband markets.”

“The FCC is committed to working with Congress to pass legislation that will protect the open Internet by ensuring that consumers have access to reliable, affordable, and fast Internet access,” Pai said in a statement announcing the reevaluation.

“The reevaluations will include consideration of proposed laws that would protect consumers from unreasonable or deceptive conduct in broadband and wireless markets, and ensure the FCC does not overstep its authority when it comes to regulating broadband providers and the content providers they serve.”

On Tuesday, the FCC did not take up the issue of net neutrality, instead announcing a rule that would limit ISPs’ ability to block, throttle, or slow the transmission “of online content” by prohibiting them from blocking “harmless content.”