Net Neutrality Tracker
Legislative Frameworks benchmark updated to reflect the finalisation of the US Court of Appeals’ decision to reject the reinstatement of federal net neutrality rules
We’ve updated the Legislative Frameworks benchmark within our Net Neutrality Tracker to reflect the finalisation of the US Court of Appeals’ decision to strike down federal net neutrality rules. The decision, which found in January 2025 that the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) vote to reinstate net neutrality regulation was illegal, will not be reviewed by the Supreme Court. The finalised decision also aligns with the stance of Brendan Carr (Chair, FCC), who took over leadership of the regulator in 2025 and has been a longtime opponent of net neutrality regulation. The US now joins Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and South Korea as the six countries in our benchmark that do not regulate net neutrality, although the latter three do have voluntary guidelines on the matter. In both Australia and New Zealand, competition between operators and existing consumer protection laws have been deemed sufficient by regulators to ensure an open internet remains accessible to all.
Our Tracker includes 18 jurisdictions, of which 12 regulate to protect net neutrality: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, EU, India, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK. Six of these make some exemptions to the rules with respect to specialised services, including Brazil, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK. Five of the other countries in our benchmark do not make reference to specialised services within their respective regulations (Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia and India), while only the EU provides for specific rules, treating each instance of specialised services on a case-by-case basis. Seven of the jurisdictions we track have also banned or restricted zero-rating: Brazil, Canada, Chile, EU, India, Norway and Switzerland.
The benchmark also tracks three countries (Japan, South Africa, South Korea) that have voluntary guidelines regarding net neutrality, rather than rules that operators must comply with. While the South African Government’s voluntary principles on net neutrality were established in 2016, the same year the EU’s Open Internet Regulation came into effect, the guidelines created by regulators in Japan and South Korea date back significantly further – to 2007 and 2011, respectively. Even more so than countries that regulate net neutrality, these three countries have not found reason to amend their co-regulatory or self-regulatory approaches in many years, suggesting the voluntary frameworks established with industry have served the market effectively over time.
