“We need policies that keep middlemen weak.”
stood out to me.
Many of my influences have railed against middle men, and I think that’s unfair. I’ve worked with plenty of middle men that made everyone then better off.
I’ve also had the unique displeasure that at least half of all links shared with me in recent years have been to a site called “Instagram”, where I am unable to access the content without an account (which I refuse to make because Zuckerberg is a creepy stalker.)
I find it deeply weird that such a locked ecosystem now controls so much attention.
I find Cory Doctorow’s thoughts on the problem and potential solutions to be both hopeful and cathartic.
I think the author was too generous, the majority of signups are bots/AI mixed with super casual side accounts. 2.2 million Brazilians sign-up in a couple days? I call bullshit. Even if that were true, they signed-up and don’t use it. Why do I believe that?
It’s because the awesome account I follow Quanta Magazine gets 20 hearts/likes/whatever and often less than 10, with 0 or 1 comment. Super weak interaction across the whole platform if you check out accounts that should be popular.