net neutrality

noun

: the idea, principle, or requirement that Internet service providers should or must treat all Internet data as the same regardless of its kind, source, or destination

… a philosophical contest that's being fought under the banner of "net neutrality," a slogan that inspires rhetorical devotion but eludes precise definition. Broadly, it means everything on the Internet should be equally accessible—that the Internet should be a place where great ideas compete on equal terms with big money.

—Sarah Rabil

Examples of net neutrality in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Between the lines: Brendan Carr, the incoming FCC chair, has advocated for rolling back net neutrality rules and is a staunch proponent of deregulating legacy industries. —Angrej Singh, Axios, 3 Jan. 2025

Chevron played a role again in 2016 when a federal appeals court upheld the Obama-era FCC's net neutrality rules. —Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, 28 June 2024

The ruling, by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, overturned last year’s communications commission vote, which reinstated the net neutrality rules barring broadband providers from blocking or throttling internet traffic to some websites and speeding up access to others that pay extra fees. —Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 3 Jan. 2025

Other Big Stories An appeals court struck down federal net neutrality rules. —Ian Prasad Philbrick, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

2003, in the meaning defined above