Now Is the Time to Advance the Decentralized Web

On Jan. 6, 2021 (or what seems like the 739th day of 2020), a riotous mob stormed the United States Capitol. It has been over 200 years since the last storming of the Capitol during the War of 1812. This time, the building remained under occupation for several hours before the insurrection was suppressed. At least five people died.

Valerian Bennett is managing director of The Pop Network Foundation, an organization dedicated to furthering the decentralizing the streaming economy as well as limited partner in Amentum Capital.

It will undoubtedly lead to calls for change in social media company policies, government regulations and maybe even court-ordered breakups. The incident is a scathing indictment of a centralized system that allows a handful of social media oligarchs to manufacture and monetize madness at scale. These companies have, effectively, replaced the free and open internet with algorithmic walled gardens built atop the economics of exploitation.

This toxic stew has been simmering for a long time. Cries for change have been sustained, loud and clear with even Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, sounding the alarm for the need to decentralize the web and take back power from the forces that have profited from centralizing it.

Surely, we cant expect these companies to police themselves. They are making too much money with the status quo. And, despite the best intentions of government regulators, passing laws to curb these companies predatory behavior is akin to politely asking a great white shark to stop eating in the midst of a feeding frenzy.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), soon-to-be chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, has said shed make

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