https://shift.newco.co/its-not-the-platforms-that-need-regulation-2f55177a2297

Every few days my browser tabs overflow, and I feel the need to summarize why I’ve kept those stories lingering in my digital consciousness. Here are stories I’ve been reading and thinking about for the past few days.

Look, I agree with the premise — the web has become weaponized and some kind of regulation is needed. But I disagree that these platforms — Facebook, Google, Twitter, et al — have any desire to “control” the dialog of the world. As I’ve said over and over again, the issue is not that the engineers and brohans of the tech world want domination. The issue is they’ve created a public square that is quite literally out of their control, and under the spell of a business model in the thrall of a financialized, steroidal version of capitalism that needs serious reform. If we want to reform anything, we should reform that. The rest (including the platforms) will follow. MQ: “Berners-Lee warned of “two myths” that “limit our collective imagination” when looking for solutions to the problems facing the web: “The myth that advertising is the only possible business model for online companies, and the myth that it’s too late to change the way platforms operate. On both points we need to be a little more creative,” he said.”