Opinion by: Chris Jenkins, adviser to Pocket Network
Tim Berners-Lee’s vision of the World Wide Web is dead. Instead of an open and accessible global information system, the web is controlled by centralized global data conglomerates, which don’t just restrict free speech but also monetize your data as a price of entry. Web2 firms have built walled gardens with massive information asymmetry between companies and users.
Blockchain-based decentralized tech challenges the status quo, offering an alternative to Web2’s closed-source infrastructure.
It enables developers and engineers to build a censorship-resistant and accessible open-data web to champion the cause of free speech. Open-source technology creates a paradigmatic shift in a fair and inclusive internet where centralized web companies won’t dictate the terms.
A vision deferred
In 1989, Berners-Lee’s invention created a virtual space for collaboration, sharing and learning from one another. The web’s first iteration was based on openness, where anyone could contribute, access information, work together, and enjoy the same opportunities.
The internet is no longer free in 2025. Capital’s brute force has emboldened centralized companies to exercise authoritarian control over data and information flows.
Unfortunately, these companies have acquired their power and resources from unaware users who unknowingly contributed to their capital accumulation strategies. Web2 companies surreptitiously collect data from users without fair compensation and use that as a weapon to control user behavior.
Corporations harness user data to train opaque algorithms and deploy information “discoverability” to shape users’ beliefs and emotions. This practice is visible mainly on centralized social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and X, with multiple scandals and pending litigations eroding user trust.
For example, in June 2024, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, received 11 complaints from European Union members. The complaints concerned using personal data like posts and images to train Meta’s AI models without consent, violating EU privacy laws.
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The Cambridge Analytica scandal demonstrated how companies mine data to shape political perspectives and election outcomes. These companies also construct pre-determined narratives and shape market behavior by promoting or subverting curated reports, sometimes
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