Donald Trump Jr. apparently thinks the Federal Communications Commission head who killed net neutrality was appointed by former President Obama, when he was actually put in office by his father, President Trump.
Last night, in an attempt to pwn the libtards who were dismayed by the vote to kill the regulations preventing internet-service providers from charging more for access to certain content, Trump Jr. tweeted, “I would pay good money to see all those people complaining about Obama’s FCC chairman voting to repeal #NetNeutality actually explain it in detail. I’d also bet most hadn’t heard of it before this week. #outrage”
I would pay good money to see all those people complaining about Obama’s FCC chairman voting to repeal #NetNeutality actually explain it in detail. I’d also bet most hadn’t heard of it before this week. #outrage
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 15, 2017
Aside from the irony of misspelling “net neutrality” while accusing its supporters of being uninformed, Trump Jr. made an erroneous reference to “Obama’s FCC chairman.” Ajit Pai was named chairman of the FCC by President Trump in January 2017. Pai had previously served as a member of the FCC beginning in 2012, when he was appointed by Obama. An FCC member is to the FCC head what a board member is to a CEO.
Upon taking office, Pai immediately announced his intent to repeal net neutrality, an Obama-era regulation that took effect in 2015. It essentially declared the internet to be a public utility, preventing internet-service providers from speeding up or slowing access to certain content. Supporters said this leveled the playing field: A major corporation couldn’t pay for its content to stream faster than content coming from a competing small business or individual. Removing that protection would also theoretically allow ISPs to charge consumers more for access to video or streaming services, creating multi-tier plans instead of one-price-gets-all access.
Controversy also surrounds the public comment period that, by law, followed Pai’s stated intent to repeal net neutrality. Up to two million comments that were posted to the FCC’s site have been found to have misused Americans’ identities.
On Thursday, the actor Mackenzie Astin tweeted that his mother, Patty Duke, is on record as having posted three comments against net neutrality in 2017. Duke died in March 2016.
Hey, @AjitPaiFCC, today my mom would have turned 71. But she didn’t. Because she died in March of 2016. Can you please take the time to explain to me how she made three separate comments in support of ending #NetNeutrality more than a year after she died?
cc: @SeanAstin pic.twitter.com/VtdLaB0eGp
— Mackenzie Astin (@MackenzieAstin) December 15, 2017
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said his office attempted to investigate the issue of fake comments but the FCC refused to cooperate. Yesterday, Schneiderman and several other state attorneys general announced they would sue the FCC to reinstate net neutrality.
