Every click in our browser, every touch on our smartphone screen, every voice request to a smart speaker tightens the noose of digital control that tech giants have inconspicuously thrown around modern society's neck. We find ourselves in an absurd situation: yesterday's digital revolutionaries have become today's conservative tyrants. What began as a promise to democratize information and technology has transformed into an unprecedented concentration of power that even the oil barons of the last century couldn't have imagined.
Do you still believe that Big Tech is the engine of progress? It's time to remove those rose-colored glasses. While we were busy chasing the newest iPhone version or saving five seconds on Amazon delivery, tech giants quietly and methodically uprooted the garden of innovation, turning it into monoculture plantations under their strict control.
How Garage Rebels Became Digital Dictators
History is rich with irony. In the 80s, Apple positioned itself as a rebel against the corporate IBM empire, promising that "1984 won't be like '1984'." Four decades later, the Cupertino company has transformed into a closed ecosystem with a market value exceeding the GDP of most countries, and with an iron grip on its App Store, where developers are forced to give up to 30% of revenue for the privilege of accessing users.
Google, once a search revolutionary with the mantra "Don't be evil," now owns more than 90% of the global search engine market. The company has transformed into the all-seeing eye of the digital age, collecting information about our every action online. Along the way, it destroys competitors or absorbs them - from YouTube to Waze, from DoubleClick to Fitbit - creating an information empire that Orwell himself would envy.
And what about Amazon? Starting as a modest online bookstore, Bezos's company has turned into an all-consuming monster of e-commerce that dictates terms not only to retailers but also to publishers, manufacturers, and even content creators. Amazon Web Services dominates cloud computing, and Amazon Prime is rewriting the rules of the entertainment industry. All the while absorbing tax breaks and optimizing profits through offshore accounts.
Monopolistic Tentacles in Every Device
The problem isn't just the size of these companies - it's the systemic destructiveness of their business models for competition and innovation. In the digital world, there's a natural tendency toward monopolization thanks to network effects: the more people use a platform, the more valuable it becomes. But Big Tech has turned this into an art of suppressing competition.
Their arsenal of anti-competitive practices impresses even the most cynical observers. Predatory acquisitions of potential competitors at early stages have become a standard strategy. Facebook bought Instagram and WhatsApp, killing future competitors in their infancy. Google acquired YouTube, eliminating a potential rival in digital advertising. Apple and Amazon regularly copy products from successful developers in their ecosystems, then squeeze the originals out of the market.
"Copy, integrate, destroy" - that's the unofficial motto of the modern tech giant. Is there a successful fitness app? Apple will create an analog and integrate it into iOS. A popular smart speaker from a startup? Amazon will release Echo at dumping prices. An innovative short video format? Meta will copy it for Instagram.
But the most insidious method is the so-called "walled garden": creating closed ecosystems where the company controls all aspects of the user experience and levies a "tax" on all participants. Apple doesn't just produce iPhones - it controls the only way to install applications and takes a commission on every transaction. Google doesn't just offer Android - it requires pre-installation of its apps and services as a condition for licensing.
The Scorched Earth of Small Business
The consequences of this technological feudalism extend far beyond economics. Social algorithms in the hands of a few companies determine what information we receive, shaping our perception of the world. The concentration of data creates an unprecedented asymmetry of power between corporations and citizens. Consumers are transformed into "users" - passive sources of data and attention that can be monetized.
Every time we humbly accept another update to terms of service without reading it (and who reads those legal tomes?), we sign a digital feudal contract. We give up rights to our data, choice, and even devices that formally belong to us but are actually remotely controlled.
And don't think this is just a matter of the free market. When your local business is forced to either submit to Amazon Marketplace's terms or become invisible to consumers; when your startup must give a third of its revenue to Apple just for the privilege of existing; when your content must conform to Google's algorithms to be found - this is no longer a free market. This is digital feudalism.
Have you noticed how the innovation wave of recent years has disappeared? Where are those breakthrough technologies that were changing the world every few years? Instead, we get cosmetic updates to smartphones, yet another video service, or another voice assistant. Tech giants are no longer so much innovating as optimizing their monopolistic positions.
Alternative Reality: The World After the Breakup
But what if we cut this Gordian knot? What if the technological world were restructured according to principles of open competition rather than monopolistic control?
History gives us examples of successful monopoly breakups. When Standard Oil was divided into 34 independent companies in 1911, it didn't destroy the oil industry - on the contrary, it created a competitive market, stimulated innovation, and ultimately benefited consumers. The breakup of AT&T in 1982 led to a revolution in telecommunications and, ultimately, contributed to the development of the internet.
Imagine a world where Google's search business is separated from Android, YouTube, and advertising technologies. Where AWS operates independently from Amazon Retail. Where the App Store is a separate platform, not the exclusive property of Apple. This isn't utopia - it's a necessary redistribution of power to restore competition and innovation.
Critics will say that breaking up these companies will destroy "synergy" and "efficiency." But let's call things by their proper names: this "synergy" is nothing but an anti-competitive advantage that allows using dominance in one area to capture other markets. And "efficiency" often simply means monopolistic profit, not real economic efficiency.
From Monoliths to Ecosystems: A New Paradigm for the Tech Industry
Breaking up tech giants isn't just destruction. It's creative restructuring that opens space for a new wave of innovation. Instead of a few closed gardens, there will be many interacting ecosystems based on open standards and fair competition.
We'll see a return to the original principles of the internet - openness, interoperability, and decentralization. New protocols and standards will replace proprietary systems. Data will belong to users, not corporations. Algorithms will become transparent and customizable, not tools of manipulation.
In such a world, innovation will again become a democratic process, not the privilege of a few companies with trillion-dollar capitalizations. Startups will be able to compete with larger players on equal terms. Developers will receive fair compensation for their work, without exorbitant "platform taxes."
But most importantly, we'll return the technological space to citizens. In the post-monopoly world, technology will again become a tool for expanding human capabilities, not a means of extracting profit from people's digital lives.
Time for Alternative Solutions: DeflationCoin as an Example of the New Paradigm
In a world where traditional technological structures have ossified and work against users, alternative models are emerging that return control to people's hands. One such example is DeflationCoin - an innovative project built on principles of decentralization and algorithmic deflation.
Unlike monolithic corporations, DeflationCoin creates a diversified ecosystem with transparent governance and integration into various spheres of the digital economy. This demonstrates the possibility of creating technological solutions that work for users, not against them, and share value fairly among all ecosystem participants.
Perhaps the future of technology lies in such decentralized models, not in the monopolistic structures of the past. Instead of digital constrictors strangling innovation - open ecosystems where anyone can contribute and receive fair compensation. The choice is ours - to continue feeding monsters or to build new, fair digital structures.