Tomorrow (Tuesday, April 11, 2017) representatives from Google, Facebook, and dozens of top tech companies are meeting with the FCC to discuss net neutrality. We need them to take a strong stand for preserving the net neutrality rules, or we could lose net neutrality forever and open the floodgates for throttling and internet censorship.

The FCC is on the fast track to repealing net neutrality and letting Comcast and the other ISPs slow down websites and apps that don’t pay them special fees. The Trump administration says that ending net neutrality is next on their list now that they have repealed broadband privacy.

If net neutrality is repealed, the Internet will never be the same. Startups and alternative voices won’t be able to compete with the big, established companies. Sites like Newsmax and AlterNet could be made to run slower than sites like CNN and Fox, restricting the flow of information and leading to mass Internet censorship.

Tomorrow's meeting with the FCC is being conducted by the Internet Association, a trade group for all of the top tech companies. The companies that will be represented at the meeting all say they support an open Internet, and they helped Internet users fight for net neutrality rules when they were passed in 2015. Recently, however, some of these companies (notably Netflix) have been sending mixed messages about their current positions on net neutrality.

We need to make it clear right now, we want tech companies to stand with the Internet and defend strong net neutrality at their meeting with the FCC.

Sign our urgent petition to tech companies: “Tell the FCC that you fully support the net neutrality rules, and that reversing them would undermine the open Internet. We are your customers, employees, and shareholders, and we demand that you use your influence to defend net neutrality.”