It was also very much a specific moment in time, where it was possible to be optimistic that the Web 2.0 explosion of decentralized access to tools for users self-publishing and distributing content to millions of readers/consumers would democratize the exchange of ideas.

And then, over the decade and a half since, the old gatekeepers were replaced with new gatekeepers, where the wild west of the unrestricted web turned into a cesspool of spam/scams and clickbait, and people organized into walled gardens controlled by corporate interests. The internet as a whole is still somewhat decentralized, but it’s getting harder and harder to meaningfully participate in public dialogue without first pledging fealty (that is, signing away rights in some Terms of Service) to some digital lord in this new feudal landscape.

That’s also to say nothing of the power of corporate or governmental forces to influence the discussion on those platforms, through old and new propaganda techniques that leverage existing social and technical feedback loops.