Net neutrality and Title II win in court, as ISPs lose case against FCC
June 14, 2016, will go down in history as either … Nick Farrell / TechEye : US court upholds Net Neutrality Troy Wolverton / Mercury News : Net neutrality decision a big win for all of us Wayne Rash / eWeek : U.S. Court Upholds FCC Net Neutrality Rules, But Appeals Are Certain Krishnadev Calamur / The Atlantic : A Win for ‘Net Neutrality’ Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily : Verizon et al. Could See Pricing Regulation from Net Neutrality Ruling, Says Moffett-Nanthanson Bryan Clark / The Next Web : Hold the celebrations, the fight for net neutrality isn't over DSLreports : Court Fully Upholds FCC's Net Neutrality Rules Candace Clement / The Huffington Post : Net Neutrality (and Title II) Forever Associated Press : An appeals court on Tuesday upheld “net neutrality” … AT&T Public Policy Blog : AT&T Statement on U.S. Court of Appeals Net Neutrality Decision Madison Malone Kircher / New York Magazine : Net Neutrality Lives on After Federal Court Ruling WebProNews : Net Neutrality Upheld: No Blocking, Throttling or Fast Lanes, Cisco Slams Harrison Weber / VentureBeat : Net Neutrality wins (again) Recode : Net neutrality won. Here's the essay that started it all. Jules Wang / Pocketnow : Appeals court will not take up AT&T, Comcast's case against net neutrality Brad Jones / Digital Trends : Despite appeal, court upholds FCC ruling on net neutrality Alex Wilhelm / Mattermark : Editor's Morning Note: Magical Accounting And The Open Internet Mario Trujillo / The Hill : Clinton, Sanders applaud net neutrality ruling internetretailer.com : A federal appeals court upholds net-neutrality rules and compares internet service to utilities Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet : US appeals court upholds FCC's net neutrality order CircleID : U.S. Appeals Court Upholds FCC's Net Neutrality Rules Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire : Net neutrality wins as federal appeals court sides with FCC decision Karl Bode / Techdirt : Appeals Court Fully Upholds FCC's Net Neutrality Rules Daniel Cooper / Engadget : Net Neutrality upheld by appeals court See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
This ruling is the high-water mark of the first Title II cycle: the DC Circuit upholds the FCC's reclassification of broadband as a common-carrier service, rejecting the challenge from ISPs including Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast. Analysts cited in the coverage immediately flag the risk that extends beyond blocking and throttling into pricing regulation.
The win proved durable legally but not politically: an appeals court later upheld the FCC's 2017 repeal while barring it from stopping state-level rules (the 2019 repeal ruling), a 2024 panel blocked the agency's reinstatement attempt (the reinstatement injunction), and by 2026 another court struck down an FCC rule banning broadband access discrimination outright (the discrimination-rule strike-down) — making this 2016 decision the opening move in a decade-long regulatory ping-pong.
First-order effects
- ISPs like Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T remain subject to Title II common-carrier obligations for now, with MoffettNanthanson warning that pricing regulation is the plausible next frontier rather than just interconnection conduct.
- The FCC gains validated legal authority over broadband, but the losing ISPs' appeals are described as certain, so compliance planning proceeds under a cloud of continued litigation.
Second-order effects
- Because courts later allow states to regulate where the FCC does not, carriers face a patchwork risk: New York's low-cost broadband mandate was ultimately enforceable after a 2021 preemption ruling was reversed (New York's affordable-broadband law), pushing compliance costs toward state-by-state negotiation.
- The same appellate deference that upheld removing price caps on dedicated data lines for AT&T and Verizon shows the pricing question cuts both ways — wholesale-line pricing stays deregulated even as retail conduct faces scrutiny.
Third-order effects
- The pattern across these rulings points to structurally unstable broadband governance: Title II's status flips with each change of FCC leadership and court composition, so carriers and investors must price regulatory reversal itself into network investment decisions.
- If the oscillation holds, regulatory gravity shifts downward — states become the durable venue for broadband consumer protections while federal authority narrows to whatever classification survives the next challenge.
The trend: US broadband regulation is locked in a recurring cycle in which each FCC administration's Title II posture is litigated, reversed, or partially preserved at the state level, leaving no stable settlement between carrier autonomy and common-carrier oversight.