The Internet will not fall apart. While centrifugal forces contribute to the emergence of normative froth, friction, and fractures, the Internet’s technical invariants exert defragmenting forces. But that is not all. As Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann explains in the Digital Society Blog, a normative shift has taken place on the Internet, leading to the emergence of a normative order for the Internet.
Kettemann, M. C. (2019): How an Online Order Fights Fragmentation. In: Wissenschaftsblog des Humboldt-Instituts für Internet und Gesellschaft (HIIG) – Digital Society Blog. https://www.hiig.de/en/mit-normen-gegen-internet-fragmentierung/