Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman chairman Ajit Pai asked people to stop harassing his family over his attempts to roll back net neutrality provisions.
During a Monday interview on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends,” Pai addressed a sign that was put up outside his home that mentioned his children’s names and read: “They will come to know the truth. Dad murdered Democracy in cold blood.”
“It certainly crosses a line with me,” Pai said.
“I understand that people are passionate about policy, but the one thing in America that should remain sacred is that families, wives and kids, should remain out of it,” he continued.
“And stop harassing us at our homes.”
In a statement, Pai said “internet regulation activists have crossed the line by threatening and harassing my family,” according to The Washington Post.
“They should leave my family out of this issue and focus on debating the merits of the issue.”
Pai earlier this month announced that the FCC will vote next month to roll back neutrality rules that require internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally.
Pai blasted the Obama-era rules as “heavy handed, utility-style” regulation of the internet. But Pai’s attempt to roll back the rules has been met with criticism from members of both parties, who fear that allowing carriers to favor different forms of content will stifle innovation on the internet.
If Pai’s proposal passes, it would free internet service providers of restrictions on blocking or prioritizing certain web content as long as they publicly disclose doing so.