Political influence may soon be controlled by which internet and cable provider you have

Let's face it: we now live in the era where Trump has turned an entire section of the population against the media (a position I am sure most people were not openly in until they were told to be). However, we are still very much in a society that gets most of its news and political opinions from media companies in some way via print, video, internet, etc. With certain events happening in the past several months, we may see this become ever more distinct.

We may soon be living in a society that is not only accused of being exceptionally biased, it will be completely behind shaping political opinion.

Let's start with step one: the death of net neutrality. Under Ajit Pai's leadership, the FCC has gutted the 2015 net neutrality rules established to keep the internet free and open. Basically, internet providers will be allowed to not only charge companies for preferred service (fast lanes), but also prioritize usage. Think of it this way, you may find that some of your sites load much more quickly than others (if they load at all depending on whether CEOs are getting along).

Now, with that in mind, let's go to step two: the clear embracing of vertical integration. Under President Obama, ATT was unable to acquire Time Warner due to anti-trust laws; they did not want the companies to merge and violate anti-competition rules. Well, that has all changed under President Trump and current rulings. Not only was the deal approved, it was approved with no modification. That would mean that ATT was given the green light to move forward with no stipulations.

How does that affect political influence? I am glad you asked.

Included in the Time Warner deal, there was CNN (a Time Warned property) along with the CNN GO app. As they have shown with DirectTV, ATT is more than willing to let its own properties stream on the network without using data allotment. So, not only would someone be able to stream CNN limitlessly on the network, ATT could technically slow the network in loading something like Fox News.

Are you starting to see the problems here?

As we move forward, you can certainly expect to see these Mega Mergers become more frequent. ATT could decide to slow Fox or use DirectTV packages to include CNN, but force extra payment for Fox News. If you are young and do not want to pay the extra money, CNN is all you get. On the other hand, look at Sinclair Broadcasting. They are most certainly right-leaning and certainly have the capital to expand. Money talks, and a very good deal with ISPs could mean numerous and quick-loading conservative sites will liberal-leaning sites fail to load at all.

Now, you may be thinking, "how would those really swing public opinion?" For older individuals with already ingrained ideologies, it probably wouldn't. However, what about the young and impressionable; they could be swayed by the only information they take in. As net neutrality is essentially dead and buyouts/mergers create large corporations with fingers on every leg of the distribution sector, we may find that political opinion is swayed (even further) by who owns the media market and who has the deepest pockets.