Net neutrality is the principle that governments should mandate Internet service providers to treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication. For instance, under these principles, internet service providers are unable to intentionally block, slow down or charge money for specific websites and online content.

Summary +CountryStatus on net neutralityYearNot enforced2014Not enforcedNot enforced2025EnforcedEnforced2014EnforcedEnforced2010Not enforcedEnforced2018Not enforcedEnforced2014EnforcedEnforcedEnforced2012Not enforcedEnforced2016Enforced2013EnforcedNot enforcedEnforced2021Enforced2016Not enforced2024Not enforced

By country

Argentina The Law 27,078, of 2014, under the Article 56 establishes the right of users to access, use, send, receive or offer any content, application, service or protocol through the Internet without any restriction, discrimination, distinction or blocking. Article 57 forbids "ICT service providers" from blocking, interfering, or restricting any content, application, service, or protocol; price discrimination by virtue of its contents. Article 57 also establishes an exception allowing blocking or restrictions solely under a judicial order or by the user of the service.

Since 2017, mobile telephone carriers like Claro, Movistar and Personal have been offering free traffic for WhatsApp messages, voice recordings, attached videos and pictures.

Bangladesh In 2024, a National Broadband Policy made broad suggestion to ensure neutrality for the type of content provided.National Broadband Policy 2024 - by BTRC

Belgium In Belgium, net neutrality was discussed in the parliament in June 2011. Three parties (CD&V, N-VA and PS) jointly proposed a text to introduce the concept of net neutrality in the telecom law.proposition 53 1467/002 dekamer.be, 27 August 2011

Brazil

In 2014, the Brazilian government passed a law which expressly upholds net neutrality, "guaranteeing equal access to the Internet and protecting the privacy of its users in the wake of U.S. spying revelations".

The Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet (in , officially Law No 12.965) became law on 23 April 2014 at the Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance. It governs the use of the Internet in Brazil, through forecasting principles, guarantees, rights and duties to those who use the network as well as the determination of guidelines for state action. The legislation was used as basis to block the popular WhatsApp application in Brazilian territory, a decision lifted soon afterwards, experts claiming that it was, in actuality, against the Framework, which was misinterpreted by the judiciary."São Paulo Court of Justice - Justiça determina bloqueio do aplicativo WhatsApp" , Comunicação Social TJSP, São Paulo Court of Justice, 16 December 2015"Brazil passes groundbreaking Internet governance Bill", Angelica Mari, ZDNet, 26 March 2014."The Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet" , Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), 9 May 2014.

Canada

In a January 25, 2011 decision, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruled that usage-based billing could be introduced."Telecom Decision CRTC 2011-44" , Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), File number: 8661-C12-201015975, 25 January 2011. Prime Minister Harper signaled that the government may be looking into the ruling: "We're very concerned about CRTC's decision on usage-based billing and its impact on consumers. I've asked for a review of the decision." Some have suggested that the ruling adversely affects net neutrality, since it discriminates against media that is larger in size, such as audio and video.

In 2005, Canada's second-largest telecommunications company, Telus, began blocking access to a server that hosted a website supporting a labour strike against the company.

Chile

On 13 June 2010, the National Congress of Chile amended the country's telecommunications law in order to preserve network neutrality, becoming the first country in the world to do so. This came after an intensive campaign on blogs, Twitter, and other social networks. The law, published on 26 August 2010, added three articles to the General Law of Telecommunications, forbidding ISPs from arbitrarily blocking, interfering with, discriminating, hindering or restricting an Internet user's right to use, send, receive or offer any legal content, application, service or any other type of legal activity or use through the Internet. ISPs must offer Internet access in which content is not arbitrarily treated differently based on its source or ownership.

China The People's Republic of China's (PRC) approach to internet policy does not account for Net Neutrality as the government uses ISPs to inspect and regulate the content that is available to their citizens. They typically block both foreign and domestic sites that the government wishes to censor in their country, using software and hardware that together are known as the "Great Firewall". Many of the sites that are on the Great Firewall's blacklist are there because they provide information that the government cannot effectively alter permanently, such as large social media IPs or information sites such as Wikipedia.

According to Thomas Lum, a specialist in Asian Affairs: "Since its founding in 1949, the PRC has exerted great effort in manipulating the flow of information and prohibiting the dissemination of viewpoints that criticize the government or stray from the official Communist party view. The introduction of Internet technology in the mid-1990s presented a challenge to government control over news sources, and by extension, over public opinion. While the Internet has developed rapidly, broadened access to news, and facilitated mass communications in China, many forms of expression online, as in other mass media, are still significantly stifled. Empirical studies have found that China has one of the most sophisticated content-filtering Internet regimes in the world. The Chinese government employs increasingly sophisticated methods to limit content online, including a combination of legal regulation, surveillance, and punishment to promote self-censorship, as well as technical controls."

European Union

When the European Commission consulted on the EU's 2002 regulatory framework for electronic communications in November 2007, it examined the possible need for legislation to mandate network neutrality, countering the potential damage, if any, caused by non-neutral broadband access. The European Commission stated that prioritisation "is generally considered to be beneficial for the market so long as users have choice to access the transmission capabilities and the services they want" and "consequently, the current EU rules allow operators to offer different services to different customers groups, but not allow those who are in a dominant position to discriminate in an anti-competitive manner between customers in similar circumstances". However, the European Commission highlighted that Europe's current legal framework cannot effectively prevent network operators from degrading their customers' services. Therefore, the European Commission proposed that it should be empowered to impose a minimum quality of services requirements. In addition, an obligation of transparency was proposed to limit network operators' ability to set up restrictions on end-users' choice of lawful content and applications.

On 19 December 2009, the so-called "Telecoms Package" came into force and EU member states were required to implement the Directive by May 2011. According to the European Commission the new transparency requirements in the Telecoms Package would mean that "consumers will be informed—even before signing a contract—about the nature of the service to which they are subscribing, including traffic management techniques and their impact on service quality, as well as any other limitations (such as bandwidth caps or available connection speed)". Regulation (EC) No 1211/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 established the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and the Office Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications. BEREC's main purpose is to promote cooperation between national regulatory authorities, ensuring a consistent application of the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications.

The European Parliament voted the EU Commission's September 2013 proposal on its first reading in April 2014 and the Council adopted a mandate to negotiate in March 2015. Following the adoption of the Digital Single Market Strategy by the commission on 6 May, Heads of State and Government agreed on the need to strengthen the EU telecoms single market. After 18 months of negotiations, the European Parliament, Council and Commission reached two agreements on the end to roaming charges and on the first EU-wide rules on net neutrality on 30 June 2015, to be completed by an overhaul of EU telecoms rules in 2016. Specifically, article 3 of EU Regulation 2015/2120 sets the basic framework for ensuring net neutrality across the entire European Union. However, the regulation's text has been criticized as offering loopholes that can undermine the regulation's effectiveness. Some EU member states, such as Slovenia and the Netherlands, have stronger net neutrality laws.

Article 3 of EU Regulation 2015/2120 sets the basic framework for ensuring net neutrality across the entire European Union. However, the regulation's text has been criticized as offering loopholes that can undermine the regulation's effectiveness. In Germany mobile device ISP's like Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone are offering services that might be seen as undermining net neutrality. The government agency overseeing the market (Bundesnetzagentur) stated, in general these plans are in alignment with net neutrality but forced the companies to adapt some changes.

France In France, on 12 April 2011, the commission for economic affairs of the French parliament approved the report of MP Laure de La Raudière (UMP). The report containsrapport de La Raudière asseblee-nationale.fr, 27 August 2011 9 proposals. Propositions n°1 & 2 act on net neutrality.

Indonesia

Indonesia has not adopted net neutrality. Indihome, a subsidiary of Telkom Indonesia, is deliberately blocking Netflix and claimed that it is due to censorship and pornographic contents. On the other hand, it promotes Iflix, a Malaysian-based company that provides similar service as Netflix. Ironically the M-17 rated contents are also available on Iflix without further censorship from the provider.

India