Internet neutrality, or net neutrality, is all about making the internet equal to everyone. While some aren't liking it, many others are defending it.
After making its home page seeing crimson red, Reddit is pushing itself forward again in defending net neutrality, with most of its front page plastered with posts and ads about saving the "free and open internet."
Reddit users were calling out opponents of the rules, identifying Senators who took money from telecommunications lobbyists and applauding politicians who have long supported net neutrality.
People can only see Senator-related posts when they aren’t logged into their Reddit account. For users that logged in, they'll see the usual front page Reddit with the usual news.
To see the Reddit posts relating to congressional opponents of net neutrality, users can go to the site's “Popular" tab. That page is the default view the site offers to those who aren’t logged into it.
According to Alexa, Reddit is the fifth most visited in the U.S., with more than 500 million unique pageviews a month, and ranks eighth in the world. The site serves as a discussion forum for a wide range of topics, and in terms of net neutrality, it has been one of the most vocal.
You might have noticed something a little different about Reddit this morning. We're running #NetNeutrality ads across our site to raise awareness for the fight to save the free and open internet.
Share your story and see what you can do here: https://t.co/6ONXZaQY8a pic.twitter.com/FMZi2dBfl3— Reddit (@reddit) December 1, 2017
Along with a series of posts about various U.S. government officials and ads about the topic, Reddit also made its logo to appear very slowly, and covering it with a sign that said: "Monthly Bandwidth Exceeded, Click to Upgrade."
This is to show the common fears that without net neutrality, ISP will be able to legally slow down websites, forcing users to pay to get faster speed.
There is also a pinned post titled "An update on the fight for the free and open internet," written by Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman. In it, he gave some information about Reddit’s interest in the issue, and what the community can do to participate in the discussion.
Huffman noted that users made 50,000 unique posts and more than 350,000 comments related to net neutrality that generated over 21 million votes, in less than a week.
As a company, Reddit has been a long-time supporter of net neutrality. It has lobbied for it in part because it affects its business as an internet company. This is where it takes its "front page of the internet" slogan to protest.