Dear readers,

This is the third piece in an ongoing series we’ve dubbed “Whatever happened to…?” 

Modern news cycles routinely highlight emerging stories with warnings of dire consequences or large societal shifts, but just as often, those stories fade away without a clear conclusion or follow up. As part of Tangle’s efforts to model more constructive journalism, we’ve launched this series as a way to shed light on the big stories we’ve forgotten about and explore why the media’s initial coverage didn’t match up with the eventual outcome. 

Our first two pieces covered the 2022 baby formula shortage and the 2023 forecast of the Great Salt Lake’s imminent collapse. Today, we’re covering the 2017 repeal of net neutrality. 

As always, we’d love to hear what you think about this story and series — and your ideas for future installments. 

— Will Kaback, Senior Editor

“The end of the internet as we know it.”

In 2017, a ferocious debate broke out across the United States, spanning social media, print and television news, late-night comedy shows, and the halls of Congress. At stake, according to some, was the future of the internet. That future looked increasingly bleak as the year waned.

The fight centered on net neutrality, the idea that all internet traffic should be treated equally by internet service providers (ISPs). That means no blocking access to websites an ISP might not like, no intentionally slowing down sites, and no offering “fast lanes” to companies that could pay for them. 

Under President Barack Obama, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reclassified broadband internet as a telecommunications service under the Communications Act of 1934 (amended in 1996), allowing the agency to enforce strict net neutrality rules. But in President Donald Trump’s first year in office, the FCC moved to repeal those rules, sparking impassioned pleas to save the internet. 

CNN ran a headline proclaiming the “end of the internet as we know it.” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said losing net neutrality would “turn the internet into a toll road.” The Senate Democrats Twitter account published a dramatically stylized post claiming, “If we don’t save net neutrality, you’ll get the internet one word at a time.” GQ’s Jack Moore wrote, “The FCC’s killing of net neutrality will ruin the internet forever.” HBO’s John Oliver rallied his viewers to voice their support for net neutrality to the FCC. The leaders of the Black Women’s Health Imperative and National Hispanic Media Coalition argued, “Rolling back net neutrality would hurt minorities and low-income families.” Leaders at social media companies Twitter and Facebook released statements alluding to dire consequences if net neutrality went away. Television shows and actors and musicians and many, many others lent their voices to the cause. Collectively, the message was clear: Without net neutrality, the internet would be permanently and irreparably harmed, putting corporate profits ahead of free speech. 

It wasn’t all doom and gloom. Tech writers like Ben Thompson (of Stratechery) argued that repealing net neutrality rules was actually the best way to achieve a free and open internet. Conservative writers welcomed the repeal, questioned the alarmist rhetoric, or called for Congress to settle the issue. Others, like Tangle’s very own Kmele Foster, suggested the impact of repeal would be muted, possibly even beneficial. But these voices were largely drowned out by the frenzied warnings listed above. 

The fight went down to the wire and then turned ugly. The FCC’s five commissioners gathered on December 14, 2017 to vote on rolling back the Obama-era rules, but the meeting was abruptly evacuated due to a bomb threat. Days later, a man sent three emails to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai threatening to kill him and his family and blaming Pai for the death of a child who allegedly killed themself in distress over net neutrality’s repeal. Ultimately, the commissioners voted 3–2 to repeal net neutrality protections, with the majority votes coming from Pai and two Republican commissioners. 

This June will mark eight years since the repeal went into effect. At a surface level, the apocalyptic warnings of the internet’s demise seem not to have materialized. In fact, it’s hard to discern whether rolling back net neutrality had any effect on the internet at all. 

So, what happened? Did net neutrality’s defenders simply get the issue wrong? Did repeal actually cause subtle harms that most aren’t aware of? Did the media misrepresent the stakes? I sat down with net neutrality opponents and advocates to get some answers.

The free internet fight.