I don’t think people especially younger ones really understand why so many of us were drawn to the early internet. It was a new frontier, free from advertising and corporate influence. People just shared things. There was this powerful push to end information scarcity to make knowledge, art, and ideas freely accessible, without paywalls or subscriptions.

But then came the musicians, the content creators, the artists and and with them, the advertisers. We lost everything. What started as a space for free expression was gradually reshaped into a sanitized, corporate-friendly landscape. Influencers played a huge role in that shift. They helped turn the internet into a marketplace, paving the way for brands to blend seamlessly into our lives under the guise of content.

I genuinely hate what influencers have done to the internet. They don’t get enough blame.