> However, the internet was also intended for the individual and was taken away from us as platforms took over I'm not sure the internet or the web was ever in

> However, the internet was also intended for the individual and was taken away from us as platforms took over I'm not sure the internet or the web was ever intended for the individual. The centralization of large platforms was probably unexpected, but an outcome where large numbers of "normal" people ran their own sites or servers was not expected either. Early in the history of the web we did see a lot of personal sites and webrings etc. crop up, but that was a result of the enthusiasm of early adopters, many of whom were technical people, and it never would have had mass appeal for the vast majority of the population. There seems to be a lot of nostalgia for the early days of the web, which misleads people into believing the web would have continued to work that way if not for the big platforms who took over. But the big platforms were introduced at a time when the web was still pretty decentralized, and they took over because average non-technical users prefer them for their ease of use and network effects.