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How to Boycott Your Internet Service Provider If Net Neutrality Dies


Net Neutrality isn’t dead yet, but FCC Chairman Ajit Pai (and internet providers like Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T) took a big step towards victory after Thursday’s vote. However, if all the planned dissents, appeals, and protests fail and net neutrality really is done for, it may be time to seriously think about boycotting your internet provider when if they begin to abuse their power under these new rules.

“How can I boycott the internet?” you might be thinking. “I need it for pretty much every aspect of my life.” While that’s true, there are a number of ways that Americans can organize to protest their internet providers through boycotts. Here’s what you may need to start considering if things keep getting worse.

What’s a Boycott Exactly?

At it’s most basic, a boycott is a tool people can against companies whose actions they disagree with. That usually means refusing to buy a service or product to put economic pressure on the company, with the understanding that the boycott will only end when certain demands are met.

When it comes to something you can’t live without (like the internet), the idea of a boycott becomes a little more vague. In some cases, you may actually be able to ditch your current internet provider. In other situations, a more symbolic boycott may actually be the best option. Let’s take a look at how these different possibilities could play out.

How to Actually Boycott Your Internet Service Provider

If you’re lucky enough to have more than one internet provider to choose from, boycotting your current ISP could be pretty easy. There’s even a special website designed to show you all the options in your exact location. So, for example, I currently pay for Verizon, but if the company starts abusing its new powers I could switch to Charter or the smaller New York-based Xchange Telecom.

However, a lot of America doesn’t have that option. Almost a third of the country is limited to just one internet provider, according to a 2014 study. More recent data collected by the FCC revealed that 129 million Americans are limited to ISPs that have already broken net neutrality in some way while those laws were still in place.

In that case, there are still a few (more complicated) options. You could organize your community to create your own local ISP. This isn’t totally unheard of, and it’s already happening in some parts of the country. However, it also takes a lot of money and work—you’ll have to buy and install fiber cables or build a mesh Wi-Fi network. That takes time and serious organization too, but in this case it could be worth the effort.

Other Boycott-Adjacent Options

If you can’t actually ditch your offending ISP, you still have options for getting your message across. You could try an organized day-long boycott, either refusing to use your internet for a day or even cancelling your service en-masse in a single day over net neutrality issues only to resubscribe a day later. That might not send as strong a message as an actual boycott, but it’s still better than nothing.

Alternatively, you could focus your efforts on hurting your internet provider’s reputation without actually cancelling your service. That could mean writing articles, organizing on social media, protesting in public, or contacting government leaders. Do whatever it takes to get your message out there. Just realize that this may not be enough to save the internet and be prepared to get serious about boycotting your ISP if it really becomes necessary.