200 companies ask US to maintain internet neutrality

More than 200 companies, including AirBnb, Reddit and Twitter, asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to review its plans to abolish regulations related to internet neutrality. In a letter addressed to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, hundreds of companies asked the agency to stop their plans to remove most of the regulations made during President Obama's time to prevent internet service providers from confusing internet services to the public.

The letter, released on Cyber Monday, the largest online shopping event in the United States said that blocking content on the internet or making a slow internet connection would hurt the US economy.

"The longer, more and more trade transactions take place on the internet," the companies wrote in the letter. "This will make small and medium businesses in an unfavorable position and make innovative small and medium sized businesses unable to compete."

The letter also mentions that US citizens spent US $ 3.5 billion on Cyber Monday last year, up 10 percent compared to the same day of the previous year.

The letter comes a week after Pai unveiled a plan to abolish regulations in 2015 asking that all Internet content be fair. The regulation prohibits Internet providers from restricting Internet traffic.

The regulations also prohibit Internet providers from offering special channels for companies willing to pay them to reach their customers faster.

"Internet without internet neutrality protection would be the opposite of open markets, with some big cell phone and internet companies that will determine good and bad content rather than consumers themselves," the letter said.

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