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Net neutrality is good, the FCC's recent decision to repeal protective rules is bad. On such points, there's little dissent across the web, with one notable exception: Reddit's The_Donald, the web community's most infamous faction.

Reddit has long led the battle to save net neutrality, as an organisation and through its many users. This week, its front page was covered with red banners calling for readers to join the "Battle for the Net" campaign and hassle their politicians, echoed by the site's Twitter feed. At a user level, plenty of subreddits – from books to Nascar and pretty much everything else – joined in.


They were campaigning against plans revealed this week by Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai to repeal tougher net neutrality regulations introduced during the Obama administration, saying it would "stop micromanaging the internet". Activists such as the EFF argue that move will "devastate" net neutrality, accusing the FCC of "ceding to the demands of a handful of massive ISPs," including Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon — where Pai worked until 2003.

Protecting net neutrality is understandably important to the users of Reddit, which has dubbed itself the front page of the internet. Earlier this week, the front page of Reddit was covered in pro-net neutrality, anti-repeal links, many of which directed visitors to the "Battle for the Net" campaign site, which has sparked 377,432 phone calls this week alone to members of congress. Protests are also being organised, particularly targeting Pai's former employer Verizon.

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But while the front of the site was overwhelmed with campaigning posts, not everyone agreed. One source of dissent was The_Donald, which lead some to suggest it was being astroturfed by cable companies or simply so partisan it didn't ever walk out of step from the US president.

If you're not a Reddit user, let's explain: r/The_Donald is a subreddit on the site, dedicated to celebrating the American president, while repetitively tearing down anyone who disagrees with him or what he stands for. These are the people who supported the so-called Pizzagate conspiracy; some throw around the portmanteau "libtard"; others believe Netflix is liberal propaganda. They are often locked in battle with the rest of Reddit and its CEO.


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But while that group is united behind Trump, it was actually surprisingly divided on the FCC's plan to repeal net neutrality protections. The various discussions on the subreddit weren't overwhelmingly skewed for or against the FCC's repeal of the net-neutrality protecting laws — unlike the rest of the site, which is (again, wisely) overwhelmingly against the move.

While some The_Donald users are backing Pai's move purely because it repeals an Obama-led change, plenty are arguing in favour of maintaining net neutrality — they're Reddit users as well as Trump followers, after all. "This isn't a partisan issue," noted one pro-net-neutrality The_Donald user. "This is internet freedom, so that you can use it to go, do or see whatever you want. Liberal or conservative, I think both sides can and should agree on that."


Intriguingly, what this all means The_Donald is actually having a discussion about the merits or not of net neutrality as a whole, as well as the specific regulations being repealed, while the rest of the site focuses only on screaming down the one FCC decision. But a debate — not unlike the one happening on The_Donald — still needs to happen, regardless of whether the FCC votes to back Pai's move in December or not.

Because net neutrality isn't an on or off issue, and there's more to it than the repeal of this one particular piece of regulation. Here in Europe we have our own rules and challenges that impact how we get access to the web. Rules adopted last year were described by activists as a "resounding victory for net neutrality", but zero-rating of some services is still allowed, meaning Three users can get contracts where Netflix doesn't count towards their data cap but Amazon Prime does. In other words, even with strong net neutrality laws, the fight to keep our access to the web fair and open continues.

The "Battle for the Net" doesn't end with this repeal, it starts. And that means sensible discussions are required about what to do next to ensure the internet stays as open as possible. So let's not leave the debate on what needs to happen next to The_Donald.