> If you're worried about them _becoming_ officials, then act now. Leave these platforms and convince others to do the same.
the assumption that we do still have agency, and can exercise power as a collective "by voting with our feet/wallet" is wrong. we (some isolated heroes and activists who care) might be able to throw some spanner into the works or otherwise help things unravel at a slower speed. But things will still unravel in the same way as Jacques Ellul documented and predicted in "La Technique"[0].
To get rid of them is not possible because the only way out we can imagine is regulation which will further cement their position and status quo. There is no future in which these companies and power structures will not be around. I think it is more likely we see the end of the world than to envision a world where these platforms don't exist (maybe not among everyone my age but certainly among everyone 20 years younger than myself who has never experienced society without the Internet/Web)
the assumption that we do still have agency, and can exercise power as a collective "by voting with our feet/wallet" is wrong. we (some isolated heroes and activists who care) might be able to throw some spanner into the works or otherwise help things unravel at a slower speed. But things will still unravel in the same way as Jacques Ellul documented and predicted in "La Technique"[0].
To get rid of them is not possible because the only way out we can imagine is regulation which will further cement their position and status quo. There is no future in which these companies and power structures will not be around. I think it is more likely we see the end of the world than to envision a world where these platforms don't exist (maybe not among everyone my age but certainly among everyone 20 years younger than myself who has never experienced society without the Internet/Web)
[0] The Technological Society https://archive.org/details/JacquesEllulTheTechnologicalSoci...