With some exceptions (.gov, .edu, for example), it has never actually meant anything. Anyone can register a .com, .net, or .org for any purpose.

I thought com/net/org had distinct use cases until the early 1990s when it became a free-for-all.

	▲	9dev 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		That was the idea, but from my memory, people chose their own meaning and conventions pretty much from the start. So much about the internet was envisioned with a completely different use case than what it actually was used for, it’s amazing things even kinda worked out in the end.