Net neutrality: Donald Trump Jr suggests people who want to keep net neutrality don't understand it

People who are upset about net neutrality probably don't understand it, Donald Trump's son has suggested.

Donald Trump Jr said in a tweet that he would "pay good money to see all those people complaining about" the repeal of net neutrality actually explain it. The same tweet misspelt net neutrality and wrongly suggested that the chairman of the FCC, which decided to repeal the protections, had been appointed by Barack Obama.

Mr Trump's tweet posted as protests swirled over the FCC's decision to revoke regulations that force internet companies to treat all internet traffic equally. The widely-expected decision could fundamentally change how the internet works, and campaigners argue that it will allow service providers to introduce new kinds of charges and restrictions on their customers.

"I would pay good money to see all those people complaining about Obama’s FCC chairman voting to repeal #NetNeutality actually explain it in detail," the full tweet read. "I’d also bet most hadn’t heard of it before this week. #outrage"

The post has been shared more than 5,000 times at the time of publication. But its divisiveness was seen in the fact it received far more replies, with 19,000 people commenting beneath it, largely to criticise the president's son.

The FCC chairman, Arjit Pai, was appointed to his current role by Donald Trump in the first days of his presidency. Doing so was taken as a move in support of the repeal of net neutrality laws, since it was one of Mr Pai's keenest policy commitments.

He was first appointed to the commission by Barack Obama, who was forced to appoint a Republican as a result of rules that require the opposition to have a representative on the board.

The introduction and then repeal of net neutrality laws have been a topic of intense discussion for years. The current laws were added in 2015 – a move that led to millions of complaints and messages of support.