CNN, MSNBC parent companies funded millions of fake net neutrality comments

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New York AG reveals CNN, MSNBC parent companies funded millions of fake net neutrality comments

FoxNews

The Office of New York Attorney General Letitia James has revealed in a new report that nearly 18 million of the more than 22 million comments the FCC received during its 2017 rulemaking were fake, intended to support the repeal of net neutrality, the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) should provide all online content equally and prevent them from favoring their own services or customers over their competitors.

A $4.2 million effort funded by Broadband for America, which includes major internet providers like AT&T, Comcast and Charter, reportedly accounted for more than 8.5 million of the fake FCC comments. Millions more were submitted by a teenage college student in California.

"The Office of the New York Attorney General (OAG) found that fake comments accounted for nearly 18 million of the more than 22 million comments the FCC received during its 2017 rulemaking," the AG's report reads. "This type of fraud has significant consequences for our democracy. Federal and state agencies rely on public comments to set standards that govern many aspects of our lives, from public health to consumer protection to the environment, and, in this case, the rules that govern how we share and consume content over the internet. Public comments can also influence legislators and the laws they enact."

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"The OAG found that millions of fake comments were submitted through a secret campaign, funded by the country’s largest broadband companies, to manufacture support for the repeal of existing net neutrality rules using lead generators," the report continued.

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