Press Releases

PORTLAND, ME—Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) is urging the FCC to delay its vote next Thursday, December 14 regarding net neutrality protections in order to investigate a slew of potentially fake comments submitted during the public comment period. An investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office found hundreds of thousands of Americans had their identities stolen and used in a spam campaign to support repealing net neutrality. Pingree also released a video message via Twitter asking her constituents to enter their names at https://ag.ny.gov/fakecomments and see if they were used in the fake comment scam. Watch Pingree’s video here.

“We’ve already seen how bots have been used to spread misinformation and influence our elections.  Now, they’re trying to sway our regulatory process on an issue that’s absolutely critical to the future of innovation and the economy. The FCC should delay its vote on net neutrality to fully investigate to what extent the public process was compromised, who was behind it, and what was their intention. I've heard from thousands of Mainers who do not want the FCC to create fast and slow lanes on the Internet by rolling back net neutrality. Their voices should not be drowned out by bots.”

Pingree is cosigning two letters to the FCC with colleagues that will be sent early next week: one opposing the rollback of net neutrality protections and the other calling on the FCC to cancel next Thursday’s vote.