[guptaneil]

The fight for net neutrality may not have been as public anymore, but it kept going over the last 5 years. Plenty of court cases challenging the FCC's ruling have been ongoing and California even passed their own net neutrality law. Congress attempted to pass a bill that would enshrine net neutrality as well, though of course the Republic majority never allowed it to get to a vote.

All this is to say despite net neutrality technically not being federally required between 2018 - 2024, it wasn't feasibly for ISP's to roll out metered plans that would go unchallenged. I suspect most were stuck in a "wait and see" stage, and likely expected this eventual rollback anyway given the landscape is still so rapidly changing.

So the protests and constant pushing back against NN did have a positive impact on our eventual outcome, even if it's not obvious or a direct line from reddit blackouts. Like most things, the truth is complex.