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EXCLUSIVE: Ajit Pai Doesn’t Think We Currently Have ‘Free And Open Internet’ [VIDEO]

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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai sat down with The Daily Caller’s Vince Coglianese for an exclusive interview ahead of Thursday’s net neutrality vote, in which he stated he isn’t sure if we currently have a “free and open internet.”

Coglianese, TheDC’s editorial director, first pointed to some of the internet goliaths whose actions would undermine the idea the internet currently is “free and open.”

“Google removed access just last week to YouTube from Amazon’s Fire TV devices because because Amazon refuses to carry Google products… Twitter recently refuse to, as you said, run advertising form a Republican congresswoman because she voiced pro-life concerns. Additionally, the Reddit CEO has admitted to manipulating user comments,” Coglianese commented.

Pai gave a two-pronged response.

“You don’t have to look at hypothetical harms to the internet and internet service providers,” he explained. “You can look at actual harms to the open internet from some of these so-called edge providers or content providers.”

“Number two,” Pai continued, “I think it just speaks to the hypocrisy that’s in play here.”

“You can’t come to the FCC and say, on one hand, ‘we demand these regulations because we fight for a free and open internet and free expression online and like when you’re engaging in some conduct that might call that commitment into question. To me, at lest, I’m not sure if we do have a free and open internet in the way that some net neutrality activists concede or conceive it.”

You can watch Pai’s interview in it’s entirety here.

Tags : ajit pai fcc
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