A Web of Illusion: Is the Internet Still the Internet?

24 September 2025 content editor Culture, Global, Home, Home affairs, Media, Mental health, Tech, Technology, Wellbeing, You Comments Off on A Web of Illusion: Is the Internet Still the Internet?

The internet was once a digital playground, a boundless frontier for exploration and fun. The dream, born from military research by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), was of a decentralised network that could withstand attack and be revolutionary for battle field communications. Visionaries like Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist who in 1989 invented the World Wide Web, and Richard Stallman, the American software freedom activist, advocated for a world of open, collaborative information would almost undoubtedly be amazed by how far the internet has grown and also dismayed by some of the directions and entanglements the web has now created. Originally the internet was an internet of fun and innocence, where a user’s ability to browse freely was a given, and the content was largely ASCII and text initially growing to more rich experiences like images, colour, graphics and video. Now a modern Intel i3 processor is thousands of times more powerful than the machines of that era, and Moore’s Law, which states that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles roughly every two years, has propelled this growth is still in effect. The new wave of the internet is social media, algorithms and AI which present enormous potential yet the double edged sword, and Damoclean of pending futures unknown descend like Poe’s pendulum in that darkly pit.

Today, that digital playground feels more like a meticulously manicured sandbox or, worse, a gilded cage for addicts. The internet has grown exponentially; there are now over 1.2 billion websites in the world, each a potential point of data collection. Websites, mobile apps, and the Internet of Things (IoT) all are used to entertain, connect and inform yet create a more pervasive ‘surveillance like’ state where in order to consume online one gives away in many instances digital freedom and privacy. No-one really knows who the data is mined or what it’s used for. The way we are tracked has become increasingly agressive. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced in the UK and EU May 2018 to give consumers more control over their data, but the constant stream of consent pop-ups has merely created a form of “click fatigue.” Our ability to browse freely is now a privilege, not a right. And more often than not one we have to pay for. And further more on the ad-front, ads are front and centre yes, but the same information can be used to track browsing habits, likes and interests to build up a palantir of near real time human activity which is fine for promoting ‘handbags’ if you happen to be on Cosmoplitan or WallPaper if you’re browsing for DIY, but in other hands more significant and tactical applications can use the data for other ends.

Furthermore, countries are now actively regulating content. The UK has introduced the Online Safety Act, and Australia is following suit, demanding age verification for adult material. This raises challenging questions about censorship and privacy. The internet has become a place where every interaction, every purchase, and every click is monitored, turning the free play of the early web into a highly controlled, commercialised experience. As we’ll explore, this consolidation of power, the influence of algorithms, and the dark underbelly of the web are changing its very nature. For many this is welcome and who would not welcome protecting ‘children’ the most vulnerable and often least heard voice in this debate – this is a must but the implementation leaves a lot to be desired given both children and adults can easily circumvent restrictions with VPNs and similar.

The Oligopoly Problem

We’re witnessing the consolidation of the internet in fewer and fewer hands. The age of decentralised digital freedom has been supplanted by an era of oligopolies and tech totalitarianism. The FAANG acronym, representing the titans of the industry—Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google—is a stark reminder of this power. And these are the companies that we know about. Others operate in the open grey, like Palantir & Cambrdige Analytica. These companies, along with the “hyperscalers” like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, manage the vast majority of our digital infrastructure. This concentration of power is an amazing and immense phenomenon in itself but does lead to the question and similarities of monopoly and anti-trust issues which are ever more prevalant.

We are being tracked in real time, not just by what we click on, but by our physical movements via apps like Waze and Google Maps. Our intimate relationships and even our kinks are now quasi digitally verifiable. The Ashley Madison hack in 2015 exposed the names, email addresses, and sexual fantasies of over 32 million users. In a more recent case, a hack of the Tea App in July 2025 leaked the location and photos of thousands of women who were leaving reviews on men they dated. This proves that any explicit data, from selfies to biometric information used for two-factor authentication, is vulnerable. The promise of the internet has been replaced by the ever-present threat of exposure. Hacks and breaches are more common and growing as AI helps cybercrime.

The Algorithmic Cage

Some might say that the internet has fallen prey to a new form of manipulation: the algorithm. Algorithms have always been present however crudely in their infancy but have now matured and are almost grown. Tech billionaires, with net worths that dwarf the GDP of small nations—Elon Musk at $480.2 billion, Mark Zuckerberg at $266.4 billion, and Jeff Bezos at $243.1 billion as of 2025—are increasingly acting like small countries themselves, wielding their platforms to influence public opinion. The internet is no longer an open, unbiased web; it’s a series of walled gardens where content is curated to keep us engaged. Algorithms are real-time and analytics more transmissible for data mining.

Algorithms on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram work by monitoring a user’s interactions—likes, comments, and time spent on content—to create a hyper-personalised and addictive feed. More of what ‘you like’ is not so bad on the surface, but dig a little deeper. This process is engineered to stimulate the release of dopamine in the brain, creating a feedback loop that encourages doomscrolling. This algorithmic bias is not benign. It’s designed to keep users on a platform at any cost, often leading to radicalisation. For example, some young men are fed increasingly toxic, hateful content, while young girls are exposed to material related to self-harm and eating disorders. This is what platforms do for engagement, and in a world where free speech protects vast pools of hate speech, the result is a dangerous lack of accountability. And in many cases because the algorithms already have weights our experiences are predetermined based upon gender, age, racial and other characteristics.

A Glimmer of Utopia

It is easy to focus on the negative, but the internet still holds immense power for good. For a flat fee for an internet connection, you can access a world of information and entertainment. This accessibility, however, comes at a cost, as we do pay with our data (so is it really free) the ultimate ‘quid pro quo’, the true commodity of the modern age. The internet connects us instantly across the globe, from astronauts in space to families separated by continents. A soldier on deployment can watch his child’s first steps, and a couple in a long-distance relationship can maintain a sense of intimacy and contact. Knowledge is more accessible than ever before, with free resources like Wikipedia and platforms like Udemy offering online courses and degrees. So for all the bad there is an immense amount of good, platforms like Amazon offer convenience unparalleled, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram give realtime opinions and act like a hive mind of connectivity. And even Twitter/X provide realtime information to crises. But dig a little deeper again the same platforms has a seething miasma of misinformation and hate beneath the surface and its often these most divisive, incendiary comments that generate the most attention so of course they’re allowed to fester and take root. But at what cost?

News and information flow faster than ever, with individuals on the ground during natural disasters or terrorist incidents able to post instantly. The digital stage has also given rise to a new type of celebrity. Early viral sensations like PewDiePie, who launched his channel in 2010, and KSI paved the way for a new generation of content creators. The world of eSports has also exploded, with tournaments like The International for the game Dota 2 offering prize pools of over $40 million. These are all harmless fun and should be enjoyed.

The Digital Underbelly

For all its utopian ideals, the internet can also be a truly dark place. It’s a place where one can access everything from extreme pornography to weapons on the dark web. It’s a breeding ground for addiction and radicalisation. While personal responsibility is paramount, platforms that actively seek to feed and fixate users on harmful content, from gambling to suicidal ideation, are complicit. This is especially dangerous for younger children, whose minds are still developing (the human brain is not fully developed until around 25 years old).

This can how people get radicalised and are accelerated into radicalisation, as seen in tragic cases like Shamima Begum, who was radicalised online and joined ISIS, or the Danyal Hussein, the satanic inspired murderer of Nicole Smallman and Biiba Henry. The political landscape is also affected, with instances of politically motivated attacks. While the internet should not be banned, providers must exercise far more caution. The seductive design of ‘opiod on steroid’ like online platforms, with seductive UI/X, colours, sounds and animations, are engineered to keep people hooked. This is a deliberate strategy to feed addiction, whether it’s for gambling, extremist content, or sexual fantasy, and it poses a clear and present danger to individuals and society. It gets muddier where the most toxic content is allowed to replicate and proliferate because it generates more ad spend and profit.

A World in Flux

Our digital viewing habits are meticulously monitored by streaming giants like Netflix, Now TV, and Prime Video. This data-driven approach can lead to a lack of creative risk, as seen in the extension of a standalone show like Squid Game into two more seasons after its initial viral success and cookie cutter plot recycling, transplanted into numerous spin offs, one example of this is the Walking Dead which saw close to half a dozen or more. This access to audience engagement in realtime can be risible, as with the reported viewing figures of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s content on Netflix leading to much gossip, or completely gripping, as with shows like The Last of Us which really pushed the engagement boundary forward – great performances from Pedro Pacal.

Meanwhile, in another remove and online arena – cybercrime is a growing global threat. The annual cost of cybercriminality is projected to exceed $20 trillion globally by 2026. Notable data breaches between 2000 and 2020 include Equifax, Marriott, and Sina Weibo. Every aspect of our lives, from friendships to war, is now online. This shift has created a more “otaku” world, a Japanese term that refers to an individual with a consuming interest in hobbies like anime or video games often in isolation in a hermetic like state in more extreme cases. While the word is often conflated with “geek” in contemporary Western culture – it has a more derogatory connotation in Japan, highlighting an inability to relate to reality and solipsism.

A Choice to Be Made

It’s true – we are more connected than ever but are increasingly isolated. We have more “friends” but are lonelier. We have an almost infinite amount of content at our fingertips, but it is so saturated that we remember less and less memory retention is lower. We suffer from choice paralysis and attention deficit, and are increasingly easy to manipulate and herd into online factions, The Right, Far Right, Left, Far Left, Wokism, Lefties, Liberals, TechBros, Radical, Conspiracy Theorists, Incels, Qanon and more. For all the good the internet has brought, there is a commensurate amount of bad seed which is flowering now. Responsibility is a three-way street: individuals must exercise self-control, companies must adopt an ethical “do no harm” oath, and states must legislate to protect their citizens in a better way that does not kowtow to bullies, money and mega corporations.

The rise of AI will only accelerate these trends. The use of AI is costly, requiring significant amounts of water and electricity. Meta has announced two new AI data centres in the USA, and places like Slough in the UK, a major hub for data centres, have experienced power outages and water shortages. The internet was created with the best intentions, but a lot of what made it a fun, free, and fair digital playground is being perniciously undermined and transitioning. Before the internet, Britons had a handful of television channels. Now, a single provider can offer broadband, TV, and mobile services, consolidating vast amounts of data that will be harvested for value. The digital revolution is not over; the question is, where will the pendulum swing next?

[Facts]
  • Internet Creation: The internet, as we know it, was developed from research by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), with early work beginning in the late 1960s.21 The World Wide Web, which made the internet widely accessible, was invented by British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989.22
  • GDPR: The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced in May 2018.23
  • Age Verification: The UK has passed the Online Safety Act, and Australia is set to enforce age checks on adult content starting in 2026.24
  • Moore’s Law: An observation by Gordon Moore in 1965 that the number of transistors on a microchip roughly doubles every two years.25
  • Ashley Madison Hack: Occurred in July 2015, exposing the data of over 32 million users.26
  • Tea App Hack: Occurred in July 2025, leaking the photos and locations of thousands of female users.27
  • Hyperscalers: Key players include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.28
  • Tech Billionaire Net Worth (2025): Elon Musk ($480.2 billion), Mark Zuckerberg ($266.4 billion), and Jeff Bezos ($243.1 billion).
  • Cybercrime Cost: Projected to exceed $20 trillion globally by 2026.29
  • Otaku: A Japanese term for someone with a consuming interest in a particular hobby, often used pejoratively.30
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