Europe's latest net neutrality victory is a win for Netflix and the rest of us

Net Neutrality for Europe is a win for Netflix and the rest of us
Net neutrality for everyone! (well, the EU)

It's a good week for companies like Google and Netflix, as the European Parliament has ruled that internet service providers (ISPs) will not be able to make data-intensive services pay more to use their network.

This means ISPs and telecom will have to treat all web traffic the same way - and therefore upholding "net neutrality" - rather than selling off more bandwidth to bigger services and leaving less for everyone else.

Over in the US, it's a different story. The same ruling was shot down last year and currently Netflix pays more to provide a better service to its customers.

Without neutrality, there's a risk that those extra charges could be passed onto internet users – something that now seems a lot less likely in Europe.

Stay neutral

There's also the possibility that without neutrality networks could actually block competing services.

Of course, it's less great news for large telecoms companies like Vodafone which argue that they're put at a big disadvantage over their US counterparts.

Now the ruling has to actually become law, which could still take some time as leaders from all 28 member states will need to approve it. Let's hope they get a move on.

Hugh Langley

Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.


Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.