Tumblr wants to get its legions of users to push Congress in support of tough net neutrality rules.
With the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) expected to reclassify Internet service later this month so that it can be treated like a utility, the blogging platform and social networking site wants to stop Congress from standing in the way.
{mosads}“This is it, guys,” staff wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. “You’ve been pulling more and more policymakers — including the president himself — over to the side of Internet freedom.
“We’re almost there. Let’s bring this one home.”
The company has unveiled a new “Save the Internet” banner in a corner of its dashboard and gives users a way to contact their member of Congress with a script asking them to “urge the FCC to reclassify Internet providers under Title II” of the Communications Act. Title II of the law outlines rules for utility services.
Like some other Web companies, Tumblr has previously waded into the political fight over net neutrality and has had some success in the past. In September, people went through the site to make more than 135,000 calls to members of Congress in favor of tough rules.
Critics have derided net neutrality advocates’ use of “clicktivism” to spur regulatory action, but the public backlash has certainly had an effect. The FCC received nearly 4 million comments on its proposed rules last year, shattering the agency’s old record of a regulatory action.
While the FCC prepares to vote on Feb. 26, Republican lawmakers have been anxious to write new legislation that would enshrine some net neutrality protections — such as preventing companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable from blocking, slowing or otherwise affecting people’s access to particular websites — but prevent it from enacting Title II rules, among other restrictions.
On their page encouraging users to act, Tumblr called GOP lawmakers’ proposed law a “fake” bill that “would basically gut the FCC’s authority in these matters.”