In 2024, the internet is about to see the biggest reshuffling of power in 25 years, with a resurgent “human web” and regulators forcing tech giants to open up
The new year offers many of the promises of an online moment we haven't seen in a quarter-century … Everything is changing rapidly.
Its significance is the proposed convergence of external pressure on platform gatekeepers and a renewed role for user-led online activity. The question is whether mandated openness translates into durable shifts in control rather than compliance at the margins.
First-order effects
Tech giants face immediate pressure to open parts of their platforms, reducing their discretion over access, distribution, and user movement where regulators intervene.
A resurgent “human web” would direct more attention and participation toward user-driven online spaces, challenging platforms’ ability to mediate every interaction through centralized feeds and rules.
Second-order effects
Platform operators and adjacent services will have to compete more on user experience and trust if access barriers weaken, rather than relying solely on closed ecosystems.
Opening requirements can make interoperability a more consequential competitive variable: smaller services gain a clearer route to reach users, while incumbents must defend their advantages beyond gatekeeping.
Third-order effects
If enforcement and user migration reinforce one another, platform power could shift from control of closed interfaces toward the ability to provide trusted, interoperable services.
This marks a broader transition from permissive platform expansion toward institutional governance of digital markets, though the eventual balance depends on how deeply opening rules are implemented and sustained.
The trend: The internet is entering a platform-governance phase in which regulatory opening and user demand for more human-centered spaces may jointly weaken closed-ecosystem moats.
I couldn't agree more with Anil Dash here: “There's not going to be some new killer app that displaces Google or Facebook or Twitter with a love-powered alternative. But that's because there shouldn't be. …
Best line: there should be more “... locally-grown, ethically-sourced, code-to-table alternatives to the factory-farmed junk food of the internet. And they should be weird.” Anil, it was good to get your perspective and long lens on this. 🙏🏻
Thank you for this. I love it and I agree with you that we are witnessing a fundamental shift in online power dynamics away from few digital monopolies and towards a fragmented, but so much more human and interesting internet. I'm so excited for it and think our digital future …
Worth your time to read, because although it pains me to admit, @anildash is usually right about these things and this is what you're going to see soon https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
The collapse of Twitter, degradation of Google search, and the potential cracking of the app stores means Internet is more up for grabs than it has been in a quarter-century. https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Hey look, it's my first piece for Rolling Stone! (Thanks @noahshachtman ) And I meant every word — I believe we're seeing the renaissance of the weird, human internet. It couldn't come a moment too soon. https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
“The human web, the one made by regular people, is resurgent. We are about to see the biggest reshuffling of power on the internet in 25 years, in a way that most of the internet's current users have never seen before” — Interesting piece from @anildash: The Internet Is About …
There's a lot to dislike about tech these days, but I really hope the pivot to a more human scale, even fragmented Internet as envisaged by this article by @anildash comes to pass (more than it already has, like this server). …
Where in @anildash raises the banners for a weirder web with wonderful references of practice from digital artists and activists @abundance @darius @netabomani #SFPC and more. — https://www.rollingstone.com/ ... In that spirit, if you're reading this, click on a person's page,…
Anil Dash ( @anildash ) has written in Rolling Stone about the coming renaissance of the weird internet in 2024 - good piece, with many links to people and projects to check out. — https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...