Why Teen Protestors are Hellbent on Saving Net Neutrality

People are pissed off that the FCC is trying to destroy net neutrality, which is why hundreds of protests took place outside Verizon stores across the United States on December 7. The rallies took place precisely a week ahead of the FCC vote to remove consumer protections that force ISPs to treat the internet like a utility.

Led by Ajit Pai, himself a former lawyer for Verizon, the five-member FCC (three Republicans and two Democrats) will likely replace the so-called net neutrality protections with the curiously named “Restoring Internet Freedom” order, which would free up internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon to control which web content — news sites, streaming videos, GIFs, music, everything — loads quickly and which does not.

The FCC meets on Thursday. Above is what the protests looked like in Manhattan last week. “I’m 14 years old, and I’m here because I feel like we need to fight for our internet freedom,” 14-year-old Emery Hajdu told Inverse.

Read more:

• Here’s What Internet Pioneers Told Congress About Saving Net Neutrality

• Net Neutrality Timeline: 10 Events That Led to Dec. 14 FCC Meeting

• On Net Neutrality, Here’s What AT&T, Verizon, Charter, and Comcast Say

• 5 Comments Perfectly Sum Up Net Neutrality

• Comcast Threatens to Sue a Website That’s Critical of Comcast

• Reddit Rallies the “Heroes We Need” for Net Neutrality

• John Oliver Calls on 4chan and Reddit to Help Keep Net Neutrality

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