not sure where this'll end up but i wanted to write about it to get it out of my head and go back to sleep.
so in david harvey's recent the anti-capitalist chronicles he talks about various topics, it's kind of a collection of stray thoughts. in one chapter he talks about the capitalist takeover of the internet. he very briefly sums up the history of the internet as defense project -> "artistic peer-to-peer creative system... powered by creative individuals often in partnerships or in conversation with one another", which "seemed to be a vehicle for real social advancement, social communication, social production and even in some instances social revolution" -> takeover of this process by the capitalist business model -- a Facebookization. now that's a very brief summary and those stages of history overlapped and continue to overlap, but it's more or less what happened.
the internet was and is a space that holds the possibility of genuine self-expression, of communication, of learning. those are intensely desirable to most people -- they want to create, talk, and learn. given that desire it's not surprising that people would take this communications medium created originally as a defense project and attempt, intentionally or otherwise, to realize that potential as arthouse wall, as discussion forum, as house and home.
the shape of the internet as a space if you have access to it is a) seemingly limitless, b) cheap/free to purchase/create new territory, c) exceedingly quick to traverse. in short, compared to the real world, you can have your own "land" on here at very little personal or social expense and anyone can come visit you within seconds if they know where to go.
in the 80s and 90s relatively few people had that sort of access to the internet -- personal computers were expensive, availability to individual consumers ranged from nonexistent to nascent, disk space and bandwidth were at less of a surplus. and you needed technical expertise to even make use of all that if you did have it.
now, the creation of the personal computer had created a new market for capital to move into. capital is continually looking to expand -- it's always seeking out new profit and especially now is looking to show continual growth to investors, stakeholders, owners. so it enters any space it sees and looks to control and commodify it. which is what happened to the computer: "here is a powerful multipurpose tool that can make you more productive and hosts new ways to learn and be entertained, don't you want to buy one?"
of course you would. who wouldn't.
and because capital generally owns the means of production, it produces these computers not as public resource but as private commodity. they start off as investment for upper-middle class businesspeople and eventually reach poorer and poorer segments of the population through resale, through greater efficiency in production, and because capital needed to expand its market to more and more people to make more and more profit.
this is not to ignore the role that public institutions played in developing computers through research/development and availing computers through libraries, schools, universities -- that's how a lot of, if not most people, first used and maybe learned "the computer". but they were easily outmuscled by the capitalist drive to sell computers as private tools for individuals (and maybe their families).
anyway, this is all to say that just as capital had commodified the computer and continues to dictate its form, function, and production, so it has done to the internet. because its potential as arthouse wall, as discussion forum, as house and home are so desirable, it's a very easy sell -- people want to create, talk, learn, live.
the power of capital is such that it took this powerful medium, this relatively-unbounded creative space -- which many of us now consider needs to be regarded as essential public utility -- and commodified it too. not just through the hardware and lower-level communications layers that let you access it, but also eventually through the surface-level websites and other software and protocols.
so it's not just that capital shapes the form and function of the computer or phone you use. it's not just that it shapes the form and function of the internet connection you use. it also shapes the form and function of most everything "on here".
which is to say, Google (and Youtube) shape what you find and see ("the algorithm"); Facebook, Twitter, Discord, (even Cohost!) shape how you talk and listen (consider what functionality and limitations those spaces possess), News Corp and its ilk dictate what Reputable Information is produced and reproduced (consider the relative significance afforded to Official News as opposed to "some shit someone said on the internet").
that's not to say that individual and social creativity doesn't grow through the cracks or attempt to create its own spaces -- it does -- but it is overwhelmed and shaped by the places capital has created "on here".
which... i suspect most everyone who sees this already knows. or not. either way, maybe i can go back to sleep now.