Re: Bullshit article premise
These are just large sites. They're not the internet, and the internet is not "centralized" around them.
* Google services are often integrated into a A LOT of web sites, from gummint sites using ReCAPTCHA, to 'analytics' and "log in with your google ID" that I see way too often, everywhere.
* Amazon AWS is used by many for web stuff, and Amazon marketplace includes many businesses I often deal with directly.
* Fa[e]ceB[an,ook], unfortunately, has a HUGE PILE of users worldwide, and these people actually use FB for NEWS and other information. It means their censors can screen out what they do not like and do not want their users to see. And too many business managers/owners think that using their services helps them.
* Google search prioritizes things in sometimes GROSSLY UNFAIR ways. Use a different search to see what they had [allegedly] been doing to breitbart.com for example...
* GDPR and all of the excuses why these companies can not apparently comply with it.
When you look at the overall market share, and observe that the companies who have it are not only in a posiition to censor and filter and cancel, they are apparently DOING THAT VERY THING, and many of us regular people have been complaining about it, LOUDLY, and then nothing gets done about it. We are at their mercy. And they are AWARE of it.
From the article: central platforms can suddenly change policies to shift users away from the content being provided by a creator
This is another way of saying 'Cancel Culture'