The People's Platform

The result is a dynamic in which platforms exercise near-autocratic control over the creators that frequent their platforms. YouTube can demonetize high-profile creators at will. TikTok can ban its biggest stars indefinitely. Apple determines who gets to live in its App Store, and OnlyFans can dictate the morality of their creators to appease their... See more

The media can free itself from the forces that arouse its self-destructive impulses. Some of the tools are already in our hands—antitrust laws to break up tech monopolies. Other tools would change the structure of the game—for example, regulations to classify digital platforms as publishers, with the resulting responsibilities and liabilities. Tech

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The other obvious problem with today’s internet is the economic structure. Chris Anderson wrote a famous essay called “The Long Tail” back in 2004 that predicted the internet would make media businesses less hit-driven and improve the economics for niche creative people. He was right in one sense: the internet created many more niche communities an... See more