Update: As Yahoo’s partnership with AT&T unwinds, users need to switch email addresses

Update: Never do a hot take on a cold story.

As an old Yahoo contract with AT&T gets unwound amid the formation of the new mega-brand Oath, Yahoo accounts will no longer be accessible through AT&T email addresses (or those of any A&T subsidiaries).

The move provoked some uproar among net neutrality advocates, but it seems to be less about creating walled gardens and more about cleaning up prior commitments and pre-existing partnerships.

While there is a level of inconvenience for AT&T customers, this is less about net neutrality and more about unwinding those corporate deals.

Basically, while annoying, this seems like it’s undoing a previous Yahoo deal with AT&T where the AT&T domains served as quasi-Yahoo accounts — which would include Tumblr.

AT&T also informed its users about the change with a statement below. 

In a notice that was posted online Sunday, Tumblr advised its users that:

Starting on June 30, 2017, att.net customers will no longer be able to log in to their Yahoo and Tumblr accounts through email addresses with the following domains: att.net, ameritech.net, bellsouth.net, flash.net, nvbell.net, pacbell.net, prodigy.net, sbcglobal.net, snet.net, swbell.net, and wans.net.

Affected customers will have to update their email addresses to something with a different domain.

For anyone affected, here’s how to change an email address to something more suitable to Oath:

  1. In a web browser, click “Settings” under the account menu at the top of the dashboard (looks like a person’s silhouette).
  2. To the right of your email address, click the pencil icon.
  3. Update the email address and confirm your password.
  4. Save your changes.

Oath has not responded to a request for comment.