The United States appeals court has ruled that the Federal Communications Commission lacks the legal authority to reinstate net neutrality rules.
The decision, made on Thursday, is a blow to the outgoing Biden administration that had made restoring the open internet rules a priority.
Net-neutrality rules require internet service providers to treat internet data and users equally rather than restricting access, slowing speeds or blocking content for certain users as well as banning special arrangements for improved network speeds or access to favoured users.
President Joe Biden signed a 2021 executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate the rules but a three-judge panel of 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the FCC lacked authority to reinstate.
These rules were initially implemented in 2015 by the agency under Democratic former President Barack Obama, but then repealed by the commission in 2017 under Republican President-elect Donald Trump.
State neutrality rules remain in place in California and other states, but was a huge blow to a 20-year campaign to give federal regulators the same oversight.