About
Break the Internet or to break the Internet is a catchphrase used to indicate when a narrative, story, or image goes extremely viral, spreading through many different regions of the Internet at once. The term went into wide use with this meaning after being featured as the headline for Kim Kardashian’s Paper Magazine cover.
Origin
The exact origin of the phrase is unknown, however the idea that the Internet is a single machine that can be “broken” or “broken into” was a common misconception in the media of the 1990s. Hackers were frequently described as having “broken into” the Internet. A 1993 story about a person stealing DNS access described the person as having "broken into the Internet, as in “Police have made what they believe is one of Canada’s first arrests for breaking into the Internet, the worldwide computer network.”[2]
Spread
In 2008, the British version of the television show “The IT Crowd” made a joke about breaking the Internet by typing “Google” into Google.
In the early 2010s, “breaking the internet” was often used to indicate how some sort of new law or legislation could alter the way that the Internet operated. For instance, during the protests of SOPA/PIPA in 2012, many advocates claimed that the legislation would “break the Internet”, meaning that it would fundamentally change how the Internet operated by creating an access hierarchy.[3]
In addition, during the 2012 Davos convention, Google CEO Erik Schmidt was quoted saying that the EU’s proposed “Right to be forgotten” legislation would “Break the Internet.”[4]
Using the term as a reference to viral content began in early 2014. Several videos on YouTube which predate the Kim Kardashian Paper Magazine cover claim that they feature celebrity stories that will “break the Internet” The earliest known instance is an episode of Joe Rogan’s radio talk show featuring Neil DeGrasse Tyson, titled “Neil deGrasse Tyson Breaks The Internet.”
On November 11th, 2014, Paper Magazine’s Twitter account shared a link to a brief article showcasing two studio photographs of Kim Kardashian, the 34-year-old TV personality and wife of Kanye West, for the cover image of its latest issue, both captioned with the subtitle “Break the Internet / Kim Kardashian”. In less than 24 hours, the tweet racked up more than 3,200 retweets and 2,500 favorites.[6]
Since the cover, the term has gone into wide use as other narratives or stories have been perceived as breaking the internet or as trying to break the Internet. The term was used extensively in media descriptions of the reactions to Caitlyn Jenner’s Vanity Fair Cover, most likely due to her familial relationship to Kim Kardashian. The Washington Post claimed in a headline “Actually, Caitlyn Jenner just broke the Internet,” and the term was used in relationship to the story on Twitter about 10,000 times.
However, as of June 2015, the term maintains a high rate of use. Tracking on Twitter indicates that it is used at a steady rate of about 2,000 times per day on the network.[5]
Search Interest
External References
[1]Urban Dictionary – Break the Internet
[2]Globe and Mail – NEWSBRIEFING Police crack illegal access to Internet The Globe and Mail (Canada) January 7, 1995 Saturday (no link, access via Lexis)
[3]BurnTheInternet – Break the Internet
[4]The Register – ’Don’t break the internet’: How an idiot’s slogan stole your privacy…
[5]Topsy – Break the Internet
[6]Boston Globe – Kim Kardashian attempts to break the Internet