Are Billionaires Destroying Social Media? Ethereum’s Buterin Weighs In

The increasing toxicity of social media is a hot-button issue, and some believe that billionaires are to blame for this. 

Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin recently weighed in on the matter, explaining that Web 1.0, which is generally considered to be the very first stage of the World Wide Web, was considered to be a much more unbridled source of good. 

Good old days?

Despite the fact that the technology was quite underwhelming with static websites and minimal interactivity, some still feel nostalgic about this era due to its grassroots spirit since Silicon Valley was yet to seize control, and the online experience was not shaped by tech behemoths such as Facebook, Amazon, and Google. 

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Plus, the audience is less selective since content is now being explicitly pushed at consumers instead of being sought out. In the early days, for instance, users had to look for a specific internet forum that matched their interests.

Anti-capitalist or elitism? 

With Web 1, there was little pressure for websites to be profitable as opposed to Web 2 platforms that prioritize strong capital optimization. 

Hence, if one adopts an anti-capitalist view, the current toxicity of social media essentially boils down to the flawed incentive structure.

At the same time, as Buterin argues, the problem with the current state of the internet is that it is meant to appeal to the average Joe with shallow and often reactive content that is mainly comprised of memes and soundbites. For comparison, Web 1 was mainly being created by well-informed “right-curve” users. 

The Ethereum co-founder also believes that this could be due to “some mix” of both of these factors.