AT&T CEO Says Net Neutrality is ‘Bad Idea’

AT&T, which has started practicing “zero-rating” policies, is openly against net neutrality, which is the concept of treating all internet data equally.

At the Business Insider Ignition conference, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson described net neutrality as “bad for the industry.” The company’s latest DirecTV service, which makes its own content not count toward its own data cap while competitors’ content does, goes against everything net neutrality stands for—and Stephenson and co. stand to make a lot of money from it.

Stephenson says he received a letter from the Federal Communications Commission that frowned upon zero-rating. The FCC also wrote to Verizon, which exercises zero-rating policies as well.

Some have called zero-rating a “war” on the open internet, and it’s especially dangerous because on the surface it appears to be a boon for customers.

AT&T’s New DirectTV Now Streaming Service Represents “War” on Open Internet