A View from the Field: Restoring Net Neutrality

A View from the Field is an ongoing feature that highlights the efforts of Free Press’ team of organizers and advocates.

We provide regular updates from the field as staffers work alongside our amazing allies and activists to create a just and equitable media system.

• Free Press mobilized more than 200 civil-society organizations, researchers and journalists to call on tech platforms to take six specific steps to safeguard election integrity in 2024. We hosted a press briefing featuring leaders of this global coalition, including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa and Free Press’ Nora Benavidez and Jessica J. Gonzalez. With at least 60 countries preparing to hold elections this year amid evidence of rising authoritarianism, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Read Democracy Deferred, our report on the companies’ responses to our demands.
• Nora also took part in the panel discussion “AI, Technology & Election Mis(Dis)Information” at the Voting Rights in the South conference. The event explored the legacy of voter suppression in the South, the current state of affairs and strategies to ensure a full and unequivocal right to a fair vote for Black and Brown residents. 
• Cassie Owens and guest facilitator Naila Francis organized a grief-care workshop in Philadelphia. This grew out of community gatherings Free Press held in Philly in 2023, where therapists and organizers noted that grief care could benefit community members experiencing harm from crime coverage. Vanessa Maria Graber co-hosted the event and Naila led the workshop, where participants met by a lake and took part in grief education, journaling prompts, group discussion and meditative practices. Imani Oakley took part in the gathering.
• Earlier this year, Cassie and Vanessa Maria created the Public Safety Coverage Cohort, which is working to transform crime reporting in Philly. In April, they hosted the latest meeting in the ongoing harm-reduction series for members of the cohort. aAliy A. Muhammad facilitated this gathering, which was held at the Colored Girls Museum.
• On April 25, Free Press staffers including Amanda Beckham, Yanni Chen, Alex Frandsen, Heather Franklin, Timothy Karr, B'Asia Settles and Matt Wood attended the FCC’s monthly meeting and celebrated when commissioners voted to restore the Net Neutrality protections and reinstate the agency’s Title II authority to hold companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon accountable for harming internet users. “We’ve been fighting for this moment since well before the Trump FCC threw out strong Title II rules in 2017,” said Craig Aaron. “It’s been nearly 20 years since Net Neutrality first came under threat. In the time since, the debate over Net Neutrality, like the internet itself, has evolved. But the central concern remains the same: Does the FCC have the authority, vested in Title II of the Communications Act, to step in when internet service providers treat their customers unjustly by blocking or interfering with the free flow of information online? … The FCC answered that question with a resounding yes.”
• Jessica J. González took part in a press briefing to celebrate the huge victory at the FCC alongside Obama-era FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, longtime Net Neutrality champion Sen. Ed Markey and allies. Participants discussed the significance of the agency’s actions.