Some crypto enthusiasts want a new kind of internet that will take power away from Big Tech and hand it over to the people. Can they be successful?
Remember downloading AOL chatrooms and songs through Napster? The Internet has come a long way.
Today, it dominates meta, Google and some other tech giants whose services have made it easier for billions of people to communicate and share online content.
But at what cost? “If something is free, you are the product,” so the saying goes – platforms like Facebook and YouTube can offer their services for free, because they use our personal data to target us with ads.
“Right now, you have large organizations controlling your data and providing you with services that use your data,” says Bertrand Perez, chief operating officer of the Web3 Foundation.
Web3 is a hypothetical, futuristic version of the net based on blockchain technology. Crypto enthusiasts say that their vision for the web will decentralize it, pushing it closer to its roots. But big-name critics — from Jack Dorsey to Elon Musk — aren’t convinced.
Watch the video to learn more about Web3 — what it is, and what its future could hold.