Since his first run for office, net neutrality -- the idea that all Internet traffic should be treated equally -- has been important to President Barack Obama.

In order to preserve neutrality of Internet traffic, the Federal Communications Commission has to establish clear regulations. Otherwise, broadband Internet providers could make certain websites faster than others to benefit themselves. They might even be able to block competitors' sites altogether.

In December 2010, Obama backed the FCC's decision to implement pro-neutrality regulations. Those regulations banned providers from blocking sites and required them to establish transparent policies.

Once that happened, we moved this to a Promise Kept.

But in January 2014, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled those regulations illegal, siding with Verizon following a lengthy battle.

On April 23, The Wall Street Journal reported that it had gotten a peek at a replacement policy proposal from FCC Chairman Thomas Wheeler. The proposal, which is slated to be revealed officially on May 15, 2014, reportedly includes a provision allowing broadband companies to charge more for use of "fast lanes."

For instance, a service provider could require a company like Netflix to pay broadband providers a premium to ensure that users can stream their video data as speedily as possible.  If Netflix didn't pay the premium, the service provider could give their customers a much slower connection to the website.

If this proposal is enacted -- still a big "if" -- it would be a setback for net neutrality advocates and a direct contradiction of Obama's words on the 2007 campaign trail.

"What you've been seeing is some lobbying that says that the servers and the various portals through which you're getting information over the Internet should be able to be gatekeepers and to charge different rates to different websites," he said in 2007. "And that I think destroys one of the best things about the Internet — which is that there is this incredible equality there."

Asked by PolitiFact about the gap between Obama's promise and the reports of Wheeler's proposal, the White House reiterated the president's support for net neutrality and said he'll be closely following the FCC proceeding.

We'll keep our eye on the net neutrality debate as the FCC moves forward. But for now, with the 2010 net neutrality regulations struck down and a potential FCC proposal beneficial to broadband providers under consideration, we're moving the Obameter to Stalled.