This piece is part of a series about the big Internet letdown. Read the rest of the series.
When it comes to our experience with the Internet, “times are changing,” as Bob Dylan would say. You can’t quite remember how, but the internet certainly feels different these days.
For some, it is “less fun and less informative” than before. For others, online searches consist of “cookie cutter” pages that drown out useful information and are riddled with scams, spam, and content generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Your social media feeds are full of attention-grabbing, provocative, hyper-targeted, or rage-inducing content, from bizarre AI-generated images to robotic comments. You’re lucky if your video feeds aren’t made up exclusively of prompts to “subscribe.”
How did we get here? And can we find our way back?
Commercial interests rule
A major factor contributing to the current state of the Internet is its over-commercialization: financial motives determine much of the content. This has arguably led to the prevalence of sensationalism, which prioritizes virality over information quality.
collusive and deceptive advertising is widespread, blurring the line between commercial and non-commercial content to attract more attention and engagement.
Another driving force is the dominance of technology giants such as Google, Meta and Amazon. They reach billions of people worldwide and exert enormous power over the content we consume.
Their platforms use advanced tracking technologies and opaque algorithms to generate hyper-targeted media content, powered by extensive user data. This creates filter bubbles, in which users are exposed to limited content that reinforces their existing beliefs and biases, and echo chambers in which other viewpoints are actively discredited.
Bad actors such as cybercriminals and scammers are an ongoing problem online. However, evolving technology such as generative AI has given them even more capabilities, allowing them to create highly realistic fake images, deepfake videos and voice clones.
AI’s ability to automate content creation has also flooded the Internet with low-quality, misleading and harmful material on an unprecedented scale.
In short, the accelerated commercialization of the Internet, the dominance of media technology giants, and the presence of bad actors have infiltrated content on the Internet. The rise of AI amplifies this even further, making the internet more chaotic than ever.
Some of the ‘good’ internet will continue to exist
So, what was the “good internet” that some of us nostalgically long for?
In its beginnings, the Internet was intended to be a free, egalitarian space for people to “surf” and “browse.” Knowledge was meant to be shared: sites like Wikipedia and The Internet Archive are ongoing bastions of knowledge.
Before the advent of filter bubbles, the Internet was a creative playground where people explored different ideas, discussed different perspectives, and collaborated with individuals from “outgroups” – people outside their social circles who may hold opposing views.
Early social media platforms were built on the ethos of reconnecting with long-lost classmates and family members. Many of us have community groups, acquaintances and family that we reach via the Internet. The ‘connectivity’ aspect of the internet remains as important as ever – as we have all seen during the COVID pandemic.
What else do we want to preserve? Privacy. A 1993 New Yorker cartoon joke stated that “on the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog.” Now everyone – especially advertisers – wants to know who you are. To quote the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, one of the principles of privacy is “being able to control who can see or use information about you”.
At the very least, we want to control what the big tech companies know about us, especially if they can benefit from it.
Can we ever go back?
We can’t control “changing” times, but we can keep as much of the good parts as possible.
For starters, we can vote with our feet. Users can make changes and highlight issues on existing platforms. We’ve seen this recently with the exodus of users from X (formerly Twitter) to other platforms, and the platform-wide backlash against Reddit for changing its third-party data access policies.
However, voting with your feet is only possible if there is competition. In the case of Search engines also have alternatives, such as DuckDuckGo or Ecosia.
But competition can only be created by moving to decentralized systems and abolishing monopolies. This actually happened in the early days of the Internet during the “browser wars” of the 1990s, when Microsoft was ultimately accused of illegally monopolizing the Web browser market in a landmark lawsuit.
As users of technology, we must all remain vigilant against threats to our privacy and knowledge. With cheap and ubiquitous generative AI, misleading content and scams are more realistic than ever.
We need to exercise healthy skepticism and ensure that those most at risk from online threats – such as children and the elderly – are informed about the potential harm.
Please note that the Internet is not optimized for your interests. It’s up to you to decide how much power you give to the tech giants that fuel theirs.
