Net neutrality protestors gather at Google HQ

Protestors gathered outside Google's offices in Mountain View

Google has seen protests outside its headquarters in Silicon Valley today after publishing its initially denied framework for net neutrality.

Around 80 protestors gathered outside Google's offices in Mountain View to protest about the proposed framework, which net neutrality advocates are calling a sell out.

"More and more of my free speech is coming through my smartphone," protestor Jonathan Steigman told the Mercury News. "I'll go to Bing if they start doing this, even though I hate Microsoft."

Google's net neutrality moves have sparked fears that the company is risking the open platform of the internet by advocating one where a base level of service is provided while paid networks get preferred access.

Google's head of public policy, Nicklas Lundblad, said in a statement that Google remained committed to an open internet.

"This is an important, complex issue that should be discussed. But let me be clear: Google remains a fierce supporter of the open internet,” he said.

"We're not expecting everyone to agree with every aspect of our proposal, but we think that locking in key enforceable protections for consumers is preferable to no protection."