LOS ANGELES—Hustler publisher Larry Flynt spoke to US News & World Report on the subject of net neutrality, which he said he supports despite his apprehension about the role of the Federal Communications Commission, which he is convinced would regulate internet content if given the opportunity. The entire subject is fraught with potential peril for smaller adult websites, added Flynt, who told US News that net neutrality protection is nothing less than "a huge First Amendment issue."
According to US News reporter Tom Risen, the point being made by Flynt and others is that no matter what the FCC decides to do after evaluating the more than one million public comments already submitted to it about net neutrality, "some businesses might be in trouble no matter what happens."
On the one hand, argues Risen, "Adult entertainment is among the sectors with the most to lose in the net neutrality debate, along with any company that uses online video or real-time actions like gaming that can’t afford to pay Internet service providers for faster connections. Access to free content on the Internet has shuttered many adult entertainment businesses, and more will close if paid prioritization becomes the new norm under the FCC's proposed rules, Larry Flynt, owner of Hustler Magazine, tells U.S. News."
But Flynt and odd bedfellow, Republican California Congressman Darrell Issa, also worry about the flip side of the new neutrality coin, in a scenario in which an out-of-control FCC, drunk with regulatory power, goes on a '50s-style content jag, censoring everything that isn't PG, sending the internet, as Issa put it during one of his congressional hearings, "back to Leave It To Beaver times."
For his part, Flynt told Risen he agrees that "the FCC would 'absolutely' try to regulate internet content if it gained more control of networks through net neutrality, adding he’s always been 'suspicious' of the commission."
But he also said that at the end of the day he supports net neutrality "because it would ideally give equal protection to online traffic."
“I always err on the side of the First Amendment,” Flynt told Risen. “I don’t know how in good conscience you could be a supporter of a constitutional form of government and be opposed to net neutrality.”
