Do not mess with reddit when it comes to Net Neutrality.

On Friday, users flooded the link-sharing site with protests against members of Congress who support repealing net neutrality. The grassroots Reddit protest came from smaller message boards, known on the site as subreddits. Different locations --- including the subreddits for Denver, San Diego, Oregon and New Hampshire --- posted pictures of their representatives and identified the campaign donations they took from the telecommunications lobby. While it is difficult to place the full scale in numbers, it is likely that the protest is the largest in Internet History.

The pictures flooded the Reddit front page, calling out the representatives by name. The post from the Oregon subreddit targeted Rep. Gregory Walden, noting, "He sold me, my fellow Oregonians, and this nation to the telecom lobby for the price of $155,100."

Largest ever neutrality protest

While Congress has not yet voted on net neutrality, those in favor of the concept are taking pre-emptive action to target those who have expressed support of its repeal. The idea of net neutrality refers to the principle that the internet belongs to everyone, and that internet service providers do not have the right to restrict access or speed up or slow down content. The FCC has introduced a proposal that would roll back protections for net neutrality put in place under Barack Obama.

While there have been some local protests in support of net neutrality and some efforts at nationwide efforts --- including a call to boycott outside of Verizon stores --- Friday's action was the most substantial collective action in support of the concept.

By late afternoon, there were hundreds of thousands of user votes to bring the stories to the Reddit front page. While there is no clear indication how many individual people voted or how many votes came from people living outside the United States, the numbers dwarf any previous action in favor of net neutrality.

Reddit plans more net neutrality protests

There will likely be more actions generated from Reddit. The site's Net Neutrality subreddit continues to coordination actions among its users, including real-life protests. This is not the first time that Reddit has sprung the collective power of the internet. In 2012, the site led what was referred to as largest protest in Internet history to stop a proposal known as the Stop Online Piracy Act, which opponents said would have led to widespread censorship. But by volume, the net neutrality protest that took place on Friday is even more substantial than the SOPA donation, meaning there is a new entry for the most significant protest in internet history.
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