FCC Head: Netflix Throttling Mobile Streams Isn't A Net Neutrality Problem

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler declared on Friday that Netflix’s throttling video streams for mobile users does not violate net neutrality. He also said that he has no plans to investigate Netflix for throttling its own video streams, despite Netflix's critics calling for an investigation.

Netflix revealed last week that it had been reducing the video quality on most mobile networks as a way to help customers with data caps put in place by most mobile networks. Critics of the company are arguing that the move shows Netflix is a hypocrite, since it has been railing publicly against Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who throttle their customer's bandwidth.

In a Q&A with reporters after Friday's monthly FCC meeting, Wheeler said that the Netflix move was "outside of our jurisdiction. It is not an Open Internet issue what they're doing. I'm going to leave it at that." He went on to note that Net Neutrality laws do not apply to "edge providers," which is how the FCC describes content providers such as Netflix.

On a related topic, Wheeler said the FCC has been examining data caps and "zero-rating." That is a practice in which ISPs exempt some content from data caps. Wheeler said the review is still in progress.