Net neutrality refers to the idea that internet service providers such as Comcast and Verizon should treat all material passing through their cables and mobile towers identically. That means they shouldn’t be allowed to put some information in “fast lanes” while restricting or discriminating against other information. To put it another way, these firms shouldn’t be able to prevent you from using Skype or slow down Netflix or Hulu in order to persuade you to keep your cable subscription or switch to a competing video-streaming provider.
Net neutrality proponents have long claimed that maintaining an open internet is essential for innovation. New enterprises and technologies may never have a chance to thrive if broadband providers pick favourites online. We might not have Netflix or YouTube today if internet providers had prohibited or severely curtailed video streaming in the mid-2000s.

Net Neutrality’s Background
In a 2003 paper about online discrimination, Columbia University law professor Tim Wu invented the phrase “network neutrality.” Some broadband providers, such as Comcast, prohibited users from using virtual private networks (VPNs), while others, such as AT&T, prohibited users from utilising Wi-Fi routers. Wu was concerned that broadband providers’ proclivity for limiting new technology would stifle innovation in the long run, and he called for anti-discrimination legislation.

Net Neutrality’s Long-Term Prospects
Congress, the courts, and the states are now in charge of the future of net neutrality. In January 2018, twenty-one state attorneys general, as well as many consumer advocacy groups, sued the FCC to overturn the new rules and reinstate the old ones. In 2019, a federal court ruled in favour of the FCC, but it said the agency couldn’t override state-level net neutrality rules.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Net Neutrality

Benefits
Smaller businesses will be more inclined to enter the market and establish new services if ISPs are not allowed to dictate the speed at which consumers can access specific websites or services, according to proponents of network neutrality. This is due to the fact that smaller businesses may not be able to purchase “fast lane” access, whereas larger, more established businesses can.
Human rights organisations, consumer advocates, and software businesses are among many that support net neutrality, believing that an open internet is essential for democratic interchange of ideas, free expression, fair corporate rivalry, and technical innovation.


Drawbacks
Net neutrality opponents argue that requiring ISPs to treat all traffic equally will hinder investment in new infrastructure and make it difficult for them to innovate. The upfront expenses of laying fibre optic wire, for example, can be quite high, and critics contend that without being able to charge more for that level of connectivity will make it more difficult to recover the investment.
Conservative research institutes, hardware corporations, and big communications providers are all against the open internet. The providers say that they need to be able to charge tiered fees for access in order to remain competitive and raise funds for additional broadband network innovation and growth, as well as to recoup expenditures already spent on broadband.