Obama Emerges as Strong Advocate of Net Neutrality

In Asia, the president asked for no blocking of websites, no slowing of Internet content, and no deals that let companies pay for faster delivery of their content.

U.S. President Barack Obama pauses while speaking at the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) annual Women's Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014
Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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By Todd Shields

November 10, 2014 at 2:36 PM UTC

Updated on

November 10, 2014 at 9:17 PM UTC

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President Barack Obama called for the “strongest possible rules” to protect the open Internet, advocating stricter controls than a regulator he appointed and causing shares of Comcast Corp. and other broadband providers to drop.

“I am asking for an explicit ban on paid prioritization,” Obama said today in a statement, referring to so-called fast lanes for preferred Web traffic. His comments tilt the White House against positions advocated by broadband providers and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, who said the president’s vision has potential legal and policy pitfalls.