An “internet emergency” was declared on Thursday, Nov. 6, after the Wall Street Journal leaked a Federal Communications Commission plan that could compromise net neutrality despite more than 800,000 public comments supporting the commission’s regulation of internet service providers to ensure an open internet.

Protesters mobilized quickly across the country on Thursday evening under the hashtag #internetemergency to demonstrate against the FCC’s “hybrid” plan, which would reclassify parts of the services ISPs provide as utilities regulated by the FCC. While net neutrality advocates support that reclassification, they worry that the partial regulation is loose enough to allow paid prioritization, or ISPs charging sites different rates for faster service. Earlier this year, the FCC proposed rules that would permit paid prioritization, as long as the practices were transparent and overseen by the FCC. 

Right now, consumers and businesses pay internet service providers, known as ISPs, for internet access only, and loading speeds are delivered consistently no matter what site a user visits — from a local nonprofit to a retail giant. The new rules could change that so sites that can afford to pay, such as retail giants, load faster than those that can’t afford to pay, like local nonprofits.

Dozens of Philadelphia protesters braved the rain on Thursday night outside the Comcast Center to join nationwide demonstrations in San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

huge turnout in the rain to fight @comcast-caused #internetemergency - 50 folks at least @CAP_Comcast pic.twitter.com/aRLxfcNnRH

— Media Mobilizing (@mediamobilizing) November 7, 2014

The FCC got no love from ISPs for the leaked hybrid proposal either. In a double-edged sword of a blog post, Verizon’s Vice President Randal Milch wrote that paid prioritization is a harmful practice. But Milch went on to warn the FCC that if it tried to regulate the company like a utility under the hybrid plan, Verizon would sue.

Correction: An earlier version of this article dated the protests on Nov. 7 rather than Nov. 6.