“Break the internet” – what does this really mean? According to the Merriam-Webster website, “break the internet” was popularly associated with the celebrity Kim Kardashian West, when she was featured in Paper Magazine’s winter issue with the headline “Break the Internet”. It seems that she’s tied to this phrase as she also won the first “Break the Internet Award” later in 2016, because of her viral nude photos, and her high impact on the internet. The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences has included this category in their “famous” Webby Awards.

Since then, the phrase “break the internet” already meant the ability of a person, mostly celebrities, to dominate the talks on the internet, such as being the “talk of the town” on social media and headlining the news websites more often than any other newsworthy topics. Although the infamous phrase “break the internet” just recently yield a more positive meaning, the phrase already existed even before it was associated with Kim Kardashian. However, its meaning is not about digital fame, instead, the phrase meant to literally cause the internet to malfunction.

Despite the first literal meaning of this phrase, our today’s perception or understanding about “break the internet” is the people’s actions that went viral worldwide. Kim Kardashian’s attachment to the phrase highly impacted its meaning, just like how she impacted and still continuously impacting the internet. Aside from Kim Kardashian, there are other people who broke the internet. Let’s take a look at some of the most remarkable events in the internet that piqued the world’s interest.

15. Caitlyn Jenner

The Kardashian-Jenner fame just won’t end! Although Vanity Fair had long introduced the Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner’s biggest transformation as Caitlyn Jenner on their July 2015 cover; this will echo for years, not just in America, but worldwide. Ever since Caitlyn had this change of heart, every corner of the internet talked about this – every social media platform, blogging websites, and even the respected news websites!

Until today, Caitlyn is still one of the most stalked celebrity in the internet because of this major “coming out” in 2015. Just recently, another issue sparked when Caitlyn broke the internet again with rumours of dating the 21-year-old model Sophia Hutchins, but Caitlyn denies this issue. Some even speculated that maybe Caitlyn has some “parental feelings” toward Sophia, given that Kylie and Kendall are both in their 20s. One thing is for sure, ever since Caitlyn’s revelation was publicized, issues like this will just keep coming.

14. “Cash Me Ousside, Howbow Dah”

Who would forget this teenage girl? It was in September 2016, when Dr. Phil Show uploaded a video of their episode featuring the 13-year-old Danielle Bregoli. Danielle’s mother was so concerned with her daughter’s inappropriate actions – stealing cars and disrespectful behavior towards her. As the show went on, Danielle became anxious hearing the audience laugh at her and said, “Catch me outside, how about that?” She said this in a very thick accent, which sounded like, “Cash me ousside, howbow dah?”

Just a month later, Danielle’s memes with her famous statement has been spreading on the internet, until early 2017. She instantly became the interest of almost everyone — some posted videos of her in a plane fight, some hacked her Instagram account, and some claimed her appearance is just a hoax. Her instant fame also led her to release a music video on her Youtube channel that has over 24 million views, following the stories that Danielle signed a record deal.

13. The “Disrespectful” Kellyanne Conway

The Trump administration will probably not escape the prying eyes in the internet, including Kellyanne Conway, the Counselor to the President. She was caught in a photo kneeling on a couch with the rest of the ladies and gentlemen standing, which was taken in the Oval Office. There are mixed reactions about Kellyanne Conway’s photo, resulting to different memes that the internet users created. Some were raged by the fact that they think Kellyanne Conway disrespected the Oval Office with her immature gesture. The” severely enraged people” even posted a lot of unpleasant words toward her. Kellyanne Conway claimed that there people who are going below the belt who wish her harm, which also bothered her children.

12. Selena Gomez x The Weeknd

Selena Gomez, once again, broke the Internet with her breakup with The Weeknd. After their 10 months of dating, Selena and The Weeknd ended their romance. Their fans became very curious with the reason behind the breakup. Speculations and gossips spread in social media and blogging sites. Some posts even speculated that Justin and Selena are back together. Of course, the issue resulted into mixed reactions. Despite these issues, it seems that the fans really love Selena and continuously support her.

11. And the Oscar goes to The Moonlight

Oscars 2017 just broke the internet when they accidentally announced La La Land as the “Best Picture”, instead of “Moonlight”. In the end, musical producer Jordan Horowitz showed the card up, which reads “Best Picture Moonlight”. This honest mistake did not escape the internet. The photo wherein the musical director is holding the card was edited and turned into different memes, displaying different names including “Space Jam”. Well, it’s not just the announcement, but also the celebrities’ facial reactions after the announcement. Don’t forget Meryl Steep’s face!

10. United Airlines Dragging Incident

This issue is not about a celebrity, but this had gone viral. A video was uploaded by one of the flight’s passengers showing how a man was mistreated by the United Airlines employees. They’re claiming that the flight was overbooked and they need to remove passengers to cater for their employees who needed to be in the flight. The security officers forcibly pulled a 69-year-old passenger, David Dao, who hit his head on an armrest. Despite the injury, the security officers still dragged the old passenger down the aisle of the plane. This video went viral and people were enraged. How could they possibly drag a wounded old man down the aisle? Fortunately, the officers received their consequence. Some of them were terminated and some of them were suspended.

9. Mariah Carey’s Lip Syncing Performance

The diva is back, but there’s something wrong. Mariah Carey’s performance during “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” did not turn up to be as awesome as her other performances. Although this happened in 2016, the issue continued to be breaking the Internet until early to mid-2017. Shots were fired by both Dick Clark Production and Mariah’s camp, blaming each other for the disaster that happened. Months later, Mariah finally spoke up that she blamed everyone, including herself, about the epic-fail performance.

8. Kendall Jenner Pepsi Commercial

Another member of the Kardashian-Jenner clan broke the internet with her controversial Pepsi advertisement. The video went viral. Not because the viewers love soda however, but because of the bizarre message that the ad displays. Social media users and bloggers find the ad offending, and they attacked Kendall and the ad with negative posts and comments. Pepsi defended their ad, stating that it is a part of their campaign defined as, “moments when we decide to let go, choose to act, follow our passion and nothing holds us back.” Following the statement, they pulled out the ad and apologized for the misinterpretation.

7. Steve Harvey’s Epic Mistake

This is one of the most unforgettable moments in the television history and the internet history. Steve Harvey crowned Ms. Colombia as Miss Universe, instead of Ms. Philippines, back in 2014, and still, the people won’t forget it! Accepting his honest mistake, Steve even tried to apologize in twitter but he misspelled both countries’ names. For the second time, he broke the internet with the same issue. He instantly became the subject of all memes. At least, he accepted his mistake.

6. Our Huckleberry Friend

Aww! Isn’t this cute? No, it’s not a celebrity; it’s our “Huckleberry” friend. Huckleberry is from Austin, Texas and lives with its human family. Like humans, Huckleberry has its own favorite place — their roof. Why? Its family does not know why.

Although Huckle is cute, some neighbours were worried about its health and well-being. They snapped a photo of Huckle while it’s hanging around the roof and looks like it is watching the neighbourhood. Don’t worry! Huckle is fine. Its family wrote a letter that explains they know how Huckle loves their roof. They also ensured that Huckle’s health and well-being are not affected. In fact, it is healthy. Huckle broke the internet, and a lot of people are coming by their home just to watch it sit on the roof. Isn’t Huckle heart melting?

5. Rest in Peace, Harambe

This may be the saddest news across internet! Harambe is that rare gorilla that went viral. It was shot because a little boy, at about three years old, fell into his cage in the Cincinnati Zoo. With a lot of pressure going on, the people decided to shoot Harambe, instead of risking the child’s life. The zoo stated that they have no choice and that the silverback gorilla needed to be forcibly taken down.

Its death opened a lot of arguments. Some people were outraged about killing the gorilla; while others debated that the safety of the child is more important. Some also insisted that they should have used tranquilizers and not live ammos. The Cincinnati Zoo defended their end, and stated that the effects of tranquilizers are not that fast and this may even worsen the little child’s safety. However, the question is, “why did the boy ended up in the cage?”. Reports say that the little boy climbed into Harambe’s enclosure and fell. This also sparked an issue stating that it was the parents’ fault. What do you think? There was a memorial arranged outside the Cincinnati Zoo to pay respect to Harambe, a 17-year-old silverback gorilla.

4. Winona Ryder’s Facial Expressions

Winona Ryder stole the scene during The 2017 Screen Actors Guild Awards where “Stanger Things” won the “Outstanding Performance” award. While David Harbour was addressing his acceptance speech, Winona is busy making such facial expressions and gestures as if she’s interpreting her co-artist’s acceptance speech. People did not let this pass; different memes were created. While some find this annoying, some also find Winona’s mime-like gestures, as “cool” or “cute”.

3. Kathy Griffin’s Controversial Photo

Why, Kathy Griffin? She is the talk of the town, not just in the internet, but also in the neighbourhood. Kathy had a controversial photo shoot that resulted into a picture where she held a bloody bust of President Donald Trump. Everyone was shocked, and then all hell broke loose. She lost her agreement with CNN, few sponsors, and some friendship. Despite this, Kathy still has friends who stood by her. After she issued a public apology, she took it back. She claimed that everything she lost was because of the Trump supporters who sent death threats to her sponsors.

2. The First Lady

Like the Kardashians-Jenners, the presidential family will never escape the public eye! This time, Melania just broke the internet with her strange facial expression – her sweet smile turned into grin after her husband turned away from her. Just as everyone thought, people will just never let this pass. Social media users and bloggers created posts, blogs, and articles speculating what really happened during Franklin Graham’s speech. This is not the first time that the First Lady was caught by the internet users; there are also posts about her viral moments whenever the camera spotted her, including their first dance in the Inaugural Ball and her husband not escorting her when she got out of the car.

1. Ellen Degeneres and the Gang!

Let’s end the list with something fun and positive! Who will not laugh when you mention Ellen Degeneres? Probably, no one. The internet went crazy just because of Ellen’s star-studded selfie. Orchestrated by Ellen and snapped by Bradley Cooper, the selfie broke Twitter! In less than one hour, it was retweeted for more than 1.3 million times! The selfie even crashed servers, setting world records.This star-studded selfie is the most retweeted tweet of all of time and Ellen is the first user to surpass one million retweets on a single Twitter post.