Both maps agree that mobile applications and dominant social platforms consolidated the vast majority of digital media consumption, marginalizing the open web.

Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?, Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons? agree on this point.

Both maps agree that platform scale and network effects concentrated digital advertising revenues and user reach into a small duopoly of Google and Meta.

Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?, Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons? agree on this point.

The maps diverge on whether the decline of the open web was caused primarily by organic consumer preference for convenient social features or by deliberate, anticompetitive tying and market manipulation.

Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?: In 2011, about two-thirds of social-media users cited staying in touch with current friends and family as a major reason for usage, while only 9% cited making new friends. Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?: In April 2025, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google unlawfully monopolized the publisher ad server (DFP/Ad Manager) and ad exchange (AdX) markets by tying the two products to foreclose competition.

The maps diverge on whether app store dominance resulted from massive voluntary adoption by developers and consumers or coercive lock-in secured through side-payments and anti-steering rules.

Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?: By 2023, the Apple App Store had over 1.8 million apps and facilitated $1.1 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2022. Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?: Court records from Epic v. Google revealed 'Project Hug', in which Google paid tens of millions of dollars to approximately 20 major developers to keep their apps on the Play Store.

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What Happened to the Internet We Used to Know?

2 investigations · 2 maps · 68 claims · Last updated Oct 22, 2026

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Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization? (Markdown)Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons? (Markdown)

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What Happened to the Internet We Used to Know?: 2 public investigations and 68 claims.

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Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?
submitted Oct 22, 2026 by @joe 79
30 claims
OverviewDid Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons? analyzes how Big Tech corporations captured the economic infrastructure of the open web through market power and anticompetitive conduct. It relies on antitrust litigation, court rulings, regulatory audits, and publisher financial metrics to trace how Google, Meta, and Apple established gatekeeping control over programmatic advertising, mobile distribution, and search …
3
Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?
submitted Oct 22, 2026 by @joe 79
38 claims
OverviewDid Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization? investigates the human and behavioral shift from the participatory, decentralized early web to centralized platforms. It uses historical survey data, blogging adoption statistics, and mobile engagement metrics to show how users preferred convenience, integrated social graphs, and frictionless mobile apps over personal site maintenance. The map argues tha…

Last generated Oct 22, 2026, 5:06 PM by a member

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Compared Oct 22, 2026, 5:06 PM

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Themes across the family

A broad read of every map in this family: the themes that run through them and how each map treats them. Structured scans give a more targeted side-by-side.

Centralization of Digital Attention
2 of 2 maps
Both maps examine how open web activity migrated away from dispersed independent websites into tightly controlled corporate platforms and mobile operating environments.
M1Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?
Argues that user attention voluntarily shifted toward mobile apps and centralized social networks because they solved core social and usability needs.
M2Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?
Argues that a duopoly captured online attention and advertising revenue by foreclosing competing exchanges and starving external publishers.
Erosion of Independent Web Publishing
2 of 2 maps
The maps highlight how independent publishing—from personal blogs to commercial news organizations—lost prominence and economic viability.
M1Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?
Documents the sharp decline in personal blogging and website creation as users migrated to social feeds and hosted services.
M2Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?
Emphasizes the financial destabilization of independent news publishers caused by collapsed platform referrals and programmatic ad extraction.
Mobile App Gatekeeping
2 of 2 maps
Both maps explore how mobile ecosystems replaced browser-based open standards with curated app stores acting as private gatekeepers.
M1Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?
Shows how consumers rapidly adopted native apps, concentrating the majority of their engagement in a handful of closed applications.
M2Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?
Shows how platform operators leveraged app store dominance to enforce anti-steering rules, extract rents, and suppress competing services.
Consumer Demand Versus Structural Foreclosure
2 of 2 maps
The research family grapples with whether the transformation of the web was driven by bottom-up consumer preference or top-down corporate anticompetitive strategy.
M1Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?
Stresses that users actively chose frictionless social platforms and hosted tools over the friction of self-hosting and manual configuration.
M2Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?
Stresses that dominant players maintained their positions through illegal product tying, exclusionary developer payouts, and collusive market division.

Both maps agree that mobile applications and dominant social platforms consolidated the vast majority of digital media consumption, marginalizing the open web.
M1Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?
C0034 Smartphone app media shareKnown correct
By July 2016, smartphone apps alone accounted for over 50% of total U.S. digital-media time spent, excluding tablet apps and mobile browsers.
Source-linkedLow significanceChatGPT
M2Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?
C0017 Decline in news site referralsKnown correct
Between March 2018 and March 2024, Facebook referrals across 792 news sites plummeted 58% from 1.3 billion to 561 million, dropping its share of external page views from 30% to 7%.
InferredLow significanceChatGPT
Both maps agree that platform scale and network effects concentrated digital advertising revenues and user reach into a small duopoly of Google and Meta.
M1Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?
C0011 Facebook active user milestonesKnown correct
Facebook reached 100 million monthly active users in August 2008 and 1 billion monthly active users by October 2012.
InferredLow significanceKimi
M2Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?
C0008 UK ad spending duopoly dominanceKnown correct
The UK CMA estimated that Google and Facebook captured roughly 80% of all UK search and display advertising spending in 2019.
InferredLow significanceChatGPT

Build on the map here to find more

The maps diverge on whether the decline of the open web was caused primarily by organic consumer preference for convenient social features or by deliberate, anticompetitive tying and market manipulation.
M1Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?
C0027 Reasons for social mediaKnown correct
In 2011, about two-thirds of social-media users cited staying in touch with current friends and family as a major reason for usage, while only 9% cited making new friends.
InferredLow significanceChatGPT
M2Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?
C0021 Google ad tech monopolization rulingKnown correct
In April 2025, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google unlawfully monopolized the publisher ad server (DFP/Ad Manager) and ad exchange (AdX) markets by tying the two products to foreclose competition.
InferredMedium significanceChatGPT, Kimi
The maps diverge on whether app store dominance resulted from massive voluntary adoption by developers and consumers or coercive lock-in secured through side-payments and anti-steering rules.
M1Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?
C0008 App Store ecosystem scaleKnown correct
By 2023, the Apple App Store had over 1.8 million apps and facilitated $1.1 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2022.
Source-linkedLow significanceKimi
M2Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?
C0031 Google Project Hug revelationsKnown correct
Court records from Epic v. Google revealed 'Project Hug', in which Google paid tens of millions of dollars to approximately 20 major developers to keep their apps on the Play Store.
Source-linkedMedium significanceKimi

Build on the map here to find more

Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons? uniquely investigates covert algorithmic bidding adjustments, such as Project Bernanke, that extracted revenue from the programmatic ad supply chain.
M2Did Silicon Valley Monopolize the Open Commons?
C0026 Project Bernanke AdX data advantageKnown correct
Texas antitrust filings alleged that Google's 'Project Bernanke' utilized historical AdX bid data to advantage its DV360 buying tools, generating an estimated $230 million per year.
ContestedMedium significanceKimi
Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization? uniquely tracks the historical amateur website creation boom and the rapid rate of personal blog abandonment.
M1Did Mainstream Users Choose Convenience Over Decentralization?
C0039 Early website creation ratesKnown correct
In a 1997 web-user survey of 10,109 self-selected respondents, 46% reported having created at least one website.
InferredLow significanceChatGPT

Evidence conflict0

No evidence conflict.

Claims support0

No claims are supported by claims on another map.

Shared open questions0

No shared open questions.

Shared citations0

No citation appears on more than one map.

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