AT&T blames net neutrality law for HBO Max counting against data caps

Stanford University professor Barbara van Schewick, who has long advocated for net neutrality, also said AT&T's elimination of HBO Max zero-rating is actually a good thing for consumers. "This is a win for an open and free internet, including for competing video services and internet users," she wrote. "People should be free to choose which videos they want to watch — whether that’s Netflix, Twitch or their local church’s Sunday service, without the company they pay to get online trying to influence their choices."
 
van Schewick added that zero-rating incentivizes ISPs to keep data caps low and unlimited plans expensive. "For example, in the European Union, ISPs that don’t zero-rate video give subscribers 8 times more data for the same price than ISPs that zero-rate video," she noted.