Back in the 1990s—a lifetime ago in internet terms—the Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells published several books charting the rise of information networks. He predicted that in the networked age, more value would accrue in controlling flows of information than in controlling the content itself.
In other words, those who positioned themselves as network hubs—the routers and switchers of information—would become the gatekeepers of power in the digital age.
With the rise of internet juggernauts Google, Facebook, Amazon and others, this insight seems obvious now. But over the past two decades, a fundamentally new business model emerged which even Castells had not foreseen—one in which attracting users onto digital platforms takes precedence over everything else, including what the user might say, do, or buy on that platform.
Gathering information became the dominant imperative for tech giants—aided willingly by users charmed first by novelty, then by the convenience and self-expression afforded by being online. The result was an explosion of information, which online behemoths can collate and use for profit.
The sheer scale of this enterprise means that much of it is invisible to the everyday user. The big platforms are now so complex that their inner workings have become opaque even to their engineers and administrators. If the system is now so huge that not even those working within it can see the entire picture, then what hope do regulators or the public have?
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