r/Internet

I came across an interesting piece from Harvard Law School on this topic and it got me thinking about how much the internet has changed since it was first built

today a handful of private companies control huge parts of the infrastructure through which we get information, communicate, learn, work, shop and form opinions

- Google decides what we find

- Youtube decides what we watch

- Meta and X shape public conversations

- and AI platforms are now becoming the layer through which we access information and create things.

at this point it has become too important to public life to be treated simply as a private product.. don't you think?

would treating major platforms more like public utilities give society more control over infrastructure it increasingly depends on?

or would that create a different problem giving governments and regulators too much control over something that has largely grown through private innovation and competition?

I think there's a genuinely interesting debate here because both sides have a pretty uncomfortable implication.

I'm thinking to keep a small online debate/discussion around this question. Let me know what you think and you want to join?