These platforms do not want creators qua creators, they want creators as unpaid content producers, dependent on them to such a degree they cannot function as a

These platforms do not want creators qua creators, they want creators as unpaid content producers, dependent on them to such a degree they cannot function as a creator otherwise, so that they may exploit the traditionally sacred relationship between audience and artist in perpetuity. These creators are only as such in the most degenerate sense, as the form, venue, and limits of their art are wrested from them by network effects. Recall that 'the medium is the message'. Smartphones don't encourage programming because programming is power, in so far as it facilitates the ability of the individual to bring about actions manifesting their plans and desires. Apple, Google, et al. want obedient, docile serfs who pay tribute unto Caesar, tempt more serfs into their domain, and maintain their aesthetic preferences and dominion. The productive question is: What can be done about it? How can the user be liberated from subservience and helplessness, which they are taught to desire with such fervor by well-funded and highly sophisticated propaganda/PR machines?