FCC Revives Obama-Era Net Neutrality Rules Despite Conflict With Section 230

FCC net neutrality revival halted by conflicting internet law

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began its effort to restore net neutrality with a proposed rule that would prevent broadband providers from favoring or throttling certain internet traffic. The decision was voted 3:2 in FCC's monthly meeting.
The new rule, called 'Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet', is based on the 2015 Open Internet Order that classified broadband as a 'Title II' communication service, which means that internet providers should act as pipelines for data, similar to phone companies for calls.
One of the arguments against net neutrality concerns 'zero rating', when a provider offers certain features, for example, exclusion of specific services like Netflix from counting toward a client's bandwidth cap. Critics argue that such deals disadvantage competitors and give the provider the power to set their own rules, opening the door for potential misuse.
Despite the revived net neutrality rules, there is a conflicting law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides nearly full legal immunity for interactive computer service providers (ICSPs) to restrict access to any content they deem objectionable. This means any FCC rules to prevent ISPs from blocking or throttling access to certain websites could be legally impotent due to Section 230.
The major questions doctrine, formalized by the Supreme Court in the West Virginia v. EPA case, could potentially thwart the FCC's net neutrality efforts. The doctrine dictates that agencies cannot interpret vast economic and politically significant statutes unless explicitly allowed in the text, something Section 230 does not provide for the FCC.