Sir Tim Berners-Lee: Facebook, Google and Twitter have become too dominant

The inventor of the world wide web has published his annual open letter on the anniversary of the internet 
Sir Tim Berners-Lee says the web has been weaponised at scale
Brad Barket / Stringer / Getty images
Amelia Heathman12 March 2018

The inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has hit out against the major tech companies saying they have become too dominant.

On the 29th birthday of the internet, the British computer scientist has published an open letter saying that the web is under threat and needs saving.

Berners-Lee, who runs an initiative focusing on advancing the internet as a public right named Web Foundation, has accused tech giants of spreading misinformation, questionable political advertising, and causing people to lose control over their personal data.

“The fact that power is concentrated among so few companies has made it possible to weaponise the web at scale,” writes Berners-Lee.

“In recent years, we’ve seen conspiracy theories trend on social media platforms, fake Twitter and Facebook accounts stoke social tensions, external actors interfere in elections and criminals steal troves of personal data.”

Whilst he admits that the companies are making efforts to fix these problems, ultimately the tech giants want to maximise profit, rather than social good he says.

Instead, Berners-Lee is calling for a legal or regulatory framework that could ease the tensions between social objectives and money-making.

Saving the web isn’t just about curbing the power of the tech giants

Each year, Berners-Lee publishes an open letter on Web Foundation looking at the issues and challenges facing the internet. After last year’s letter discussing the internet's problems, this year he discussed ways to improve the world wide web.

For instance, as well as facing down the dominance of Facebook et al, the internet could be made a better place by closing the gap between those who are online and offline.

This is all part of the reasons Web Foundation was founded, in order to fight for the web’s future.

“To be offline today is to be excluded from opportunities to learn and earn, to access valuable services and to participate in democratic debate. If we do not invest seriously in closing this gap, the last billion will not be connected until 2042," he says.

In order to solve this, Berners-Lee calls for supporting public access solutions, such as community networks and public Wi-Fi initiatives.

He also notes that there needs to be more work to secure reliable internet access for women and girls, to empower them through digital skills training.

Berners-Lee finishes by saying: “Let’s assemble the brightest minds from business, technology, government, civil society, the arts and academic to tackle the threats to the web’s future.

“At the Web Foundation, we are ready to play our part in this mission and build the web we all want. Let’s work together to make it possible.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in