ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the implications of the net neutrality debate for communication research and the public sphere in Europe. It talks about the public sphere theory framework to describe the areas of net neutrality that are relevant for communication studies. The chapter highlights the contributions of communication scholarship to their analysis. A public sphere perspective sheds light on the effects of Internet infrastructure on online communication spaces. The chapter discusses the disciplines such as law and economics, that have played a more active role in the net neutrality debate and demonstrates that communication scholars have fundamental contributions to offer in illuminating core issues in the net neutrality debate. It provides a way to organise the net neutrality literature, a public sphere framework illuminates how communication research even if this research often does not explicitly refer to net neutrality can inform the net neutrality debate.
