The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just upheld a previous court’s decision and ruled against the telecom industry in their attempt to prevent the California net neutrality law SB 822––widely regarded as the strongest net neutrality legislation in the nation––from going into effect. 

Telecom giants like AT&T and Comcast spent millions of dollars lobbying against SB 822. They even funded astroturf groups that spammed senior citizens with robocalls. And surely they spent big money on the attorneys who just lost this case for them.

The California net neutrality law is now clearly enforceable, and bars telecom companies from blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization, abusing their gatekeeper power in interconnection, or engaging in “zero rating” scams. The court’s decision also clearly paves the way for other states to impose their own net neutrality protections.

Digital rights group Fight for the Future, which played a crucial role mobilizing grassroots support for the California net neutrality law, issued the following statement, which can be attributed to the group’s Director, Evan Greer (she/her):