this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023
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Why are people weaving social media and the internet into a single thread? The internet is so vast, social media makes up a tiny sliver of it.
The real problem with the internet isn’t Facebook or Twitter or Reddit, it’s the fact the entire experience is pretty much controlled by Microsoft and Google. As they shape your content, lock you out of areas and generally dictate what’s “legal” or even what gets found during your searches.
It’s no longer an information superhighway but rather turning into a giant storefront. And that’s the problem. I search for anything and the first 3 pages are Amazon link backs. Or fake websites with AI generated content used only for ad impressions.
Facebook and the like definitely erode some parts, but as a whole, there is way more fuckery going on by big tech.
And this isn’t even mentioning the tracking and fingerprinting and violations to privacy and security we are all promised.
I agree the Google and MS are a problem, but Facebook, Twitter, Reddit are also a problem, albeit a different one.
Yeah not saying they aren't shit. Just that the internet isn't just social media. I surf with mullvad blocking all nuisances (social media included) and I don't even really feel its effects unless I actually try to visit facebook.com or equivalent.
I think this is where you're wrong. Facebook, together with google, ms, apple and amazon, are building all the tech nowadays and thus shaping the internet according to their priorities, and this is the biggest problem.
Apple is a hardware company. Over 90% of their cash comes from hardware. Latest figures show that about 6-8% are from services. Aside from making a browser that’s quite popular on mobile, they really have little to no control on the net.
Their partners certainly do, but they are not a software company. They have nowhere near the impact Google or Microsoft do because those two are both service companies and both actually control and own giant slices of the net. Google has shaping the net’s infrastructure for decades now.
Not saying Apple doesn’t influence in other ways, but is just a spec compared to the companies that actually own parts of the nets backbone.
It’s going to be like old telecom soon, where the companies that own the physical lines have all the control. And that’s scary. I don’t want kids growing up using Google Internet or Microsoft AllNet to access the web.