‘Last Week Tonight:’ John Oliver Calls on Viewers to Defend Net Neutrality Once Again — Watch
Sunday marked the 100th episode of “Last Week Tonight,” and John Oliver dedicated nearly the entire program to making another case for retaining net neutrality rules. “The Internet is the repository of all human knowledge — and goats singing Taylor Swift songs,” the host joked, adding that “the Internet is an incredible place.” But, he argued, that is being threatened by the Trump administration’s decision to roll back Obama-era net neutrality rules.
READ MORE: Stephen Colbert Slams Congress for Scrapping Internet Privacy Rules — Watch
To explain net neutrality, Oliver let internet celebrity Tay Zonday outline the concept simply. Net neutrality rules guarantee that Internet service providers (ISPs) cannot limit, slow down access to, or manipulate in any way the choices that consumers make online by slowing down access to less popular sites. Basically, they have to treat all websites equally. So, if net neutrality rules were wiped out, ISPs could slow down or even deny access to certain websites to give priority to other sites that pay them more on advertising.
Oliver had taken on this issue during his fifth-ever episode back in June 2014. And similar to his first segment, when Oliver urged viewers to go on the FCC website to demand that the agency keep the rules in place, the rush of fans allegedly caused the site to crash.
Internet commenters: Visit https://t.co/7BXwaar6k3 and urge the FCC to keep strong net neutrality rules backed by Title II.
— Last Week Tonight (@LastWeekTonight) May 8, 2017
Watch the complete segment below.
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