Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, argues that it is still worth fighting for his original vision—one based on sharing and collaboration, not exploitation—because the web has been corrupted by powerful, centralized platforms that prioritize profit and control.
His reasoning centers on the current state of the internet, which he calls the "wrong path" taken between his original Web 1.0 and the rise of social media in Web 2.0.
Here are the key reasons he believes the fight to reclaim the web is critical:
The Current State of Exploitation
Berners-Lee identifies several ways the web deviates from his founding principles:
The User as the Product: Instead of being customers of the web, Berners-Lee asserts that users have become the product. Large platforms aggressively harvest users' private data (even if anonymized) and sell it to commercial brokers, advertisers, or, in some cases, repressive governments.
Harmful Algorithms and Manipulation: Ubiquitous algorithms are often "addictive by design" and damaging to mental health, particularly among teenagers. This data-driven targeting includes pushing deliberately harmful content that can spread misinformation, cause real-world violence, and undermine social cohesion.
Centralized Power: His original vision was a decentralized system. The current web is dominated by a "handful of large platforms," giving them excessive control over information flow and individual experience. Trading personal data for use fundamentally contradicts his idea of a free web.
Why It's Still Worth Fighting For
Berners-Lee emphasizes that the original spirit and technical capacity of the web still exist, making its restoration a viable goal.
Restoring the Web’s Purpose: The ultimate goal is to restore the web as a tool for collaboration, creativity, and compassion across cultural borders, re-aligning it with its initial promise of working for everyone.
Re-empowering Individuals: The fight aims to re-empower individuals by giving them control over their own data and online experience, essentially helping them "take the web back."
Urgent Governance and Regulation: Berners-Lee stresses that the time for slow policymaking is over. He calls for urgent regulation and global governance of digital platforms and new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), urging policymakers not to repeat the "decade-long game of catchup" they played with social media. He warns that allowing development and governance to be dictated solely by competitive companies will not create value for the individual.
Berners-Lee gave the web away for free because he believed it would only work if it worked for everyone, a principle he maintains is "truer than ever." The fight, therefore, is for the political willpower to implement the technical and regulatory changes needed to realize this decentralized, human-centric vision.
