Everything fun online, basically
Net neutrality might, at surface level, look like a complicated issue.
It's a weird, vague term and it doesn't seem to be that urgent compared to healthcare and immigration.
But content creators across the web, including the staff here at babe, are freaking out about the possibility of net neutrality being repealed — for good reason. The loss of net neutrality would fundamentally alter what it's like to go online for the worse.
Here's a quick guide to what net neutrality actually is, why it's important, and what's gonna get fucked up if it goes away.
What is 'net neutrality'?
Net neutrality means that internet service providers or ISPs aren't allowed to monitor or control what you can access online or what you're able to post. We're kind of in the Wild West era of the internet right now — unless you're posting a snuff film (if you don't know, you don't need to know) anything goes, as far as the government is concerned.
But if net neutrality is repealed, cable companies will be able to decide who can access what online by blocking certain websites or content if the creators won't pay, or by blocking users from accessing certain sites or content if they aren't willing to pony up.
Twitter users in other countries have testified that a lack of net neutrality is mostly good for giant corporations, who dominate the internet providing landscape in the United States.
What happens if it gets repealed?
Basically, everything you do online could change if net neutrality goes away. A popular example is porn, but even if you're not into that kinda stuff (liar!) there are a ton of other things at stake. Online shopping, Instagram, Googling answers to problem sets… all of these things and more would be permanently altered, either blocked completely or seriously slowed down.
More seriously, repealing net neutrality would be seriously disadvantageous to people of color, minorities, differently abled and economically underprivileged people, who are able to reach much wider audiences and access information they couldn't otherwise with the help of the internet.
The loss of net neutrality would also make spontaneous political organizing more difficult, which is probably not a coincidence.
Even woke goddess Cher threw her hat into the ring, extolling the virtues of the free-flowing internet.
The idea that a country without net neutrality is a country where I can't access Cher's tweets at a moment's notice, free of charge is truly bone-chilling and enough to make me want to call my representative immediately.
If you love the boundless, weird wonderland of information and sharing that is the internet as we currently know it, then you should most certainly give a fuck about net neutrality. Call your congressperson, sign a petition, and even post a woke-ass Facebook status… before it's too late.