PornHub Comes Up With a Novel Way of Supporting Net Neutrality

Nobody appreciates video buffer time, and this especially holds true when it comes to sites like PornHub. And slow Internet speed is what the company will be protesting against on July 12 at the 'Battle for the Net' protest, along with other Internet companies like Amazon, Reddit, Mozilla.

The protest organised by Fight for the Future, free press, and Demand Progress will highlight the threat to a free and open Internet, Motherboard reports. PornHub is one of the companies joining the protest which is being held five days before the first deadline for comments on the FCC's proposal to roll back the government's net neutrality rules.

The repeal could affect sites like PornHub, which is why the company is joining in the protest. While it hasn't detailed what it will do in the protest, CEO Corey Price told Motherboard that it plans to implement a 'loading icon' to state how the repeal could lead to some sites becoming slower if ISPs decide to create fast and slow lanes. "No one in the porn industry ever yells 'slower, slower, slower,'" the PornHub CEO said. "We're much more accustomed to 'faster, faster, faster.' Here at Pornhub, we want to keep it that way."

For those who haven't been following the saga, the Federal Communications Commission under the leadership of Trump-apointee Ajit Pai has been moving to repeal the Obama administration's 2015 net neutrality order, which granted an even and open Internet for all. Now, if the FCC has its way, ISPs like Comcast and Verizon will essentially have control over how they regulate Internet traffic, giving preferential treatment to some sites while the others could suffer. Current net neutrality rules prevent telecom companies from giving such preferential treatment.

PornHub is among the top 20 most visited sites in the US, while Amazon.com and Reddit feature in the top 5. Video streaming giant Netflix has shown support towards the FCC's move, saying that the repeal is unlikely to affect popular sites like its own, but rather hit smaller sites.