Uncovering Stakeholder Coalitions in the FCC’s Net Neutrality Rulemaking

Abstract

Net neutrality, the principle that all traffic on the internet should be treated the same, has been one of the most contentious issues in telecommunications policy. The objective of this thesis is to use network community detection methods to uncover stakeholder coalitions in the FCC’s net neutrality rulemaking. I used public comments and ex parte meetings data to construct various networks of stakeholders. I then applied the Spectral Clustering On Ratios-of-Eigenvectors (SCORE) algorithm to detect communities and Sankey diagrams to visualize community evolution over time. This analysis leads to several noteworthy findings. Two kinds of pivotal stakeholders, anti-net neutrality internet service providers (ISPs) and pro-net neutrality public interest organizations, were found to form their own communities or form coalitions with other communities. When the stakes of net neutrality rules were high in 2014, ISPs allied with the network equipment manufacturers community, while public interest organizations allied with the internet-based tech companies community. When the FCC turned against net neutrality in 2017, while ISPs dissolved their community, the public interest community remained solid, though internet-based tech companies left to form a community of their own. Astroturf organizations were also found to always form communities among themselves, detached from other anti-net neutrality communities.