2015 Open Internet Order

The FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order (FCC 15-24, GN Docket No. 14-28) established net neutrality rules by reclassifying broadband internet access as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act. The Commission adopted it on February 26, 2015 and released it on March 12, 2015.

The order was never invalidated by a court. The D.C. Circuit denied the internet service providers’ petitions for review in United States Telecom Association v. FCC on June 14, 2016, leaving it in force. It ended instead through the agency’s own rulemaking: the FCC adopted the Restoring Internet Freedom Order (FCC 17-166) on December 14, 2017, reinstating the information-service classification and repealing the 2015 rules.

Core Net Neutrality Principles

The order established three bright-line rules:

1. No Blocking: ISPs cannot block access to legal content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices
2. No Throttling: ISPs cannot impair or degrade lawful internet traffic
3. No Paid Prioritization: ISPs cannot create paid fast lanes for content

Title II Reclassification

The order:

• Reclassified broadband as a “telecommunications service”
• Applied common carrier regulations with forbearance from many provisions
• Extended the full suite of net neutrality rules to mobile broadband

Regulatory Requirements

• Required ISPs to treat all internet traffic equally regardless of source or content
• Prohibited ISPs from charging content providers for preferential delivery to consumers
• Restricted ISPs from selectively blocking or prioritizing access to internet services
• Required ISPs to publicly disclose network management practices and performance metrics

Repeal and Subsequent Developments

• Repealed by the FCC’s 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order, adopted December 14, 2017 and released January 4, 2018 — an agency rulemaking, not a court judgment
• The D.C. Circuit largely upheld the 2017 repeal in Mozilla v. FCC (2019) while vacating the order’s preemption of state net neutrality laws
• Several states enacted their own net neutrality laws
• The FCC adopted a new Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet Order (FCC 24-52) in 2024, again classifying broadband under Title II; the Sixth Circuit vacated that order on January 2, 2025 in In re MCP No. 185 (Ohio Telecom Association v. FCC), holding that broadband internet access is an information service and that the Commission therefore lacked the statutory authority it claimed
• Legislative proposals to establish net neutrality rules through statute have been introduced