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Net Neutrality

The principle of net neutrality states that Internet Service Providers should not be able to control what their customers do on the internet by prioritizing or discriminating against certain content. This comes in the form of providing slower service for certain sites or preventing users from accessing them.

In the case of the Philippines, net neutrality is not in effect. ISPs freely choose to prioritize some sites over others. An example of this would be the free data that can be used to access Facebook, but not other sites.

The lack of net neutrality is in fact a large problem in the Philippines. When ISPs give out "free" access to some sites over others they are essentially funneling their customers into using that site. This is especially a problem when that prioritized site is a site like Facebook that tailors it's content to individual users, regardless of the trustworthiness of that content. Users that rely on free Facebook will not be able to access links to more reputable news sites, or cross reference anything they see on Facebook with news on another site. According to Rappler, this dependency on Facebook has lead to an online platform where fake news and armies of trolls abound.

It is clear that by limiting access to some information you prevent people from forming opinions about it. Prioritizing some sites over others and curating the content people can access effectively prevents them from formulating truly informed opinions.

References:

Curiae, A. (2017, Dec 28). Net neutrality in the philippines. BusinessWorld. https://www.bworldonline.com/net-neutrality-philippines-necessary/

Public Knowledge. (2017, Dec 14). Net neutrality. Public Knowledge. https://www.publicknowledge.org/issues/net-neutrality/

Rappler. (2019, Aug 25). 8chan founder: Filipinos not accessing the 'real internet'. Rappler.https://www.rappler.com/technology/8chan-founder-filipinos-not-accessing-the-real-internet

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