If multiverses exist - then some of them don't have the net. There was WW III. Or there was a mass die off from something militarized like smallpox. There was enough of a die off and disruption to stop the march of technology.
But if the earth isn't a dystopia - I don't see how the internet or something similar doesn't get invented.
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Edit
In some multiverses some tech is forbidden. Like this silly tv series where they don't have the net or any broadcasting tech.
In a postapocalyptic world approximately 500 years in the future, war has left civilization in ruins. Some elements of technology, such as electricity and ground vehicles, have survived the apocalypse, but society now shuns firearms, leading to a reliance on melee weaponry and crossbows.
If multiverses exist - then some of them don't have the net. There was WW III. Or there was a mass die off from something militarized like smallpox. There was enough of a die off and disruption to stop the march of technology.
But if the earth isn't a dystopia - I don't see how the internet or something similar doesn't get invented.
---
Edit
In some multiverses some tech is forbidden. Like this silly tv series where they don't have the net or any broadcasting tech.