What is Net Neutrality?

Net Neutrality is a concept that internet providers should treat all content equally, which means providers cannot speed up certain content and slow down others to encourage customers to use a certain content provider over another.

Many individuals believe that net neutrality will keep the internet an open field, which is critical to innovation. For example, during the early years of YouTube or Netflix if providers restricted internet traffic to either site this would prevent them to grow and gain a mass following. Net Neutrality is important as only a handful of telecommunications companies dominate the broadband market, which enables them to have the power to suppress or limit online speech to those who pay more.

Although broadband companies promise not the throttle certain content, however, this is not a legal requirement. Companies could pay internet providers to prioritise their content over others. The fear is that small companies that cannot financially afford priority treatment will simply fall off the grid and public awareness of new brands will be restricted.

Current countries that enforce Net Neutrality (As of July 2018)

• Argentina

• Belgium

• Brazil

• Canada

• Chile

• India

• Japan

• Mexico

• South Korea