The night before the Net Neutrality vote passed — ending the “open internet” — Congressman Steve Knight, R-Santa Clarita, called the Federal Communications Commission chairman to express his concerns.

Knight called Ajit Pai, the chair of the FCC, whose agency voted Friday 3-2, down party lines, to reverse the 2015 classification of broadband internet as a Title II Common Carrier service, commonly known as Net Neutrality.

“I expressed my firm belief to Chairman Pai that all data on the internet should be treated equally and existing net neutrality standards should protect consumers and put small businesses that rely on the internet on a level playing field with larger companies,” said Knight in a Facebook post.

Under the former net neutrality rules, internet service providers are required to treat all online content the same, according to officials.

The ISPs were not allowed to deliberately speed up or slow down traffic from specific websites or apps, or put their own content at an advantage over rivals.

For example, Comcast could not choose to slow down a service like Netflix to make its own streaming video service more competitive, nor force Netflix to pay more money to be part of a so-called internet “fast lane.”

The FCC ruling Friday ends these Obama-era regulations, after a party-line vote within the Commission. The agency also eliminated a rule barring providers from prioritizing their own content, according to officials.

“Rep. Knight is concerned that the repeal (of) the Net Neutrality standards could create an environment in which small businesses are put at a disadvantage against larger companies that may have institutional relationships with Internet Service Providers,” said Chris Jusuf, Knight’s communications director.

Rather than write a letter to the FCC, Knight chose to call Chairman Pai and start a live conversation to express his concerns and hear the chairman’s point of view, said Jusuf.

“While I told (Pai) it was my preference to see the current rules remain in place until legislative action can be taken by Congress,” said Knight, “if the Commission votes to proceed with their plan to reverse this rule, I will seek a legislative solution to protect consumers while also allowing the regulatory flexibility to innovate and invest in a modern internet infrastructure.”

Congress is able to override the action with legislation, but the law has to be signed by President Donald Trump — who appointed the current FCC Chair.

Pai’s plan has been praised by the telecom industry, which argues the earlier regulation was a drag on broadband investment and innovation. But the repeal plan has been loudly criticized by numerous technology companies and consumer advocacy groups.

Ed. Note: CNN contributed to this article. KHTS is an affiliate of CNN.

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