I don't think pulling up the ladder is the correct analogy here. The inability of users to prevent companies from slurping up all of their contacts creates an

I don't think pulling up the ladder is the correct analogy here. The inability of users to prevent companies from slurping up all of their contacts creates an environment which greatly benefits those company which simply take the data since nobody can stop them. Yes having that data has allowed the current crop of social media companies to grow very quickly, but look at the societal costs of that rapid growth. If we want social media companies of a categorically different kind, we need different rules so that the kind we currently have don't dominate again.