Bonum Certa Men Certa

Storm Brewing Over the Future and Nature of the Internet

TikTok Surpasses Google, Facebook As World’s Most Popular Web Domain



Summary: Subsidies for Web giants (and shareholders of such giants) will run out; what will happen to the Internet when this inevitably happens?

If one goes by (relies on) reports and accounts of corporate media, "cryptocoins" (a misnomer) are doomed and therefore anything blockchain-related is doomed too. Never mind if one is merely a subset of the other. If one goes by reports and accounts of corporate media, it also seems increasingly likely that Twitter (as a business) will collapse completely and Facebook won't manage to 'evolve', even if it rebrands as "Meta" and pushes VR under a new buzzword. About a year ago it became apparent that toxic TikTok had exceeded (in terms of the number of requests) Web giant Google. TikTok is accessed from a lot of countries, including places where Facebook is banned. It seems unlikely that TikTok is the future; it's more of a passing fad. Some American politicians already promote bills to block TikTok entirely.



Nat Friedman Advisor to FTXTo a lot of people, the above things (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google, TikTok) aren't Web sites but "apps". It is noteworthy that mobile devices with "apps" have long outnumbered desktops and laptops, which means that Microsoft fell behind not only on the Web but also in the "installed base" sense.

The recent collapse of FTX had a 'ripple effect'. Various other companies that sold so-called "cryptocoins" perish and fold. Along with them: NFTs, "web3" (whatever that actually is!), and various other cargo cults hugged and shilled by charlatans and one-time frauds [1, 2, 3].

At the moment we fully utilise IPFS, Gemini, IRC, and the Web. We explore some other protocols too, maybe Tor will be next (Onion address).

United States Government Debt - November 2022 Data - 1942-2021 HistoricalFor a number of years --- if not well more than a decade already -- a lot of companies operated in a bubble, backed mostly by debt. We were meant to assume some companies were worth trillions of dollars even though they were occasionally operating at a loss. Twitter almost always operated at a loss and the same is true for ClownFlare. The state of the Internet and the Web is not sustainable because the companies that currently dominate it don't necessarily profit from it; some rely on US government subsidies/bailouts, fattening shareholders of failing companies like "Meta" at the expense of taxpayers (not something that will last forever; in the latest month on record, US national debt grew by over $300,000,000,000; yes, in just this one month, causing inflation to spiral out of control). With plausible rumours of impending "big" layoffs at Microsoft (not to mention Amazon, HP, Intel, Facebook and so on) we're probably at the cusp of major shake-ups. What comes next? Too hard to tell, almost impossible to guess, but as newsrooms report many more layoffs (many included in Daily Links yesterday, including CNN and Gannett) it's essential to stay vigilant. Things are going to change.

"Microsoft, the world’s most valuable company, declared a profit of $4.5 billion in 1998; when the cost of options awarded that year, plus the change in the value of outstanding options, is deducted, the firm made a loss of $18 billion, according to Smithers."

--The Economist, 1999

Recent Techrights' Posts

Many Microsoft "Assets" Are Fabricated Baloney (to Game the Numbers)
At times it seems like what we deal with are many weak patents (on algorithms), valuations or speculations based on hype ("hey hi"), and stocks held by Microsoft and its own staff
"Internal Changes at Red Hat / IBM"
It seems like quite a few people are leaving
Confirmed in French Media: Mass Layoffs (10% Culled) in Microsoft France
Now some reports in French
Microsoft in Freefall in Finland
Can Finland eradicate Windows from all its infrastructure, including core operations that are sensitive to sabotage by cracking?
Google's Chrome Passes 70% and Web Standards Are Dying
The Web is quickly becoming devoid of any standards
Slopwatch: Plagiarism and Ponzi Scheme, Bubble About to Burst Entirely, Admits Goldman Sachs
the hype that Google News and The Register MS actively participate and profit from
The Register MS Says "AI Web Crawlers Are Destroying Websites", So Why Does The Register MS Help 'AI' Companies? (Spoiler: Money)
People need to call out The Register MS on its hypocrisy
Slopfarms Already Peaked, They Will Die When Slop Companies Run Out of Money to Borrow
slopfarms will lack an actual "engine"
 
Techrights Has Been Subjected to Calls of Violence (and Death Threats), It Never Condoned Violence
I have no sympathy for people who call violence "free speech" and then get in trouble
Condoning Violent Behaviour and "Free Speech"
perhaps Microsoft Lunduke lost touch with what constitutes violence
Takeaway From the Google Verdict: GAFAM Has Too Much Control (Even Over the US Government and Courts With Government Appointees)
Many people feel disappointed but hardly surprised by the verdict
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 in One Month
As noted a few days ago, several times in fact, many people now recognise the importance of the FSF's mission, even if most people don't know what the FSF is
"Voluntary" Layoffs at Microsoft (to Game the Numbers, Sugar-Coating a Crisis)
"Employees interested have until the end of October to volunteer."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 02, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 02, 2025
Links 02/09/2025: Oligarch Tech and Text Encoding Concerns in Ada
Links for the day
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We already saw signs of it a month ago and named some of the people
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GAFAM must be worried
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Imagine what this will do to staff's morale
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For Microsoft, India is a runaway market
Links 02/09/2025: SCO Summit and Russia Suspected Of Jamming GPS
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Gemini Links 02/09/2025: Mediterranean Marriage and Staying Connected at 35,000 Feet
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Links 02/09/2025: Attacks on Unions, Microsoft TCO, and DDoSing a Growing Problem
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Why We Publish Information About the SLAPPs (But Not About the Legal Process), an Abuse of Process by Americans Trying to Silence Critics of Their Employer, Microsoft
It doesn't take thousands of pages to explain something simple
Internet Relay Chat Didn't Fall Off a Cliff
IRC will turn 40 in less than 3 years from now
The UEFI 9/11 - Part V - This is Not a Drill (Disable "SecureBoot" Now)
A "9/11" Coming
There's No Obligation to Speak to Anybody
The very fact that "bkuhn" is till spending time in social control media says a lot about his poor judgment
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 01, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 01, 2025
Microsoft Trying to Force People to Resign (Amid Mass Layoffs) a Strategy That Takes Its Toll
Microsoft seems to be circling down the drain and the "final flush" will be the moment the "hey hi" (AI) bubble implodes completely
Google Simply Cannot Be Trusted
Only fools would trust GAFAM
Admission That a Third Party (or Parties) Funds the SLAPPs Against Techrights
This can end up costing them over a million dollars
Modifying and Writing One's Own Computer Programs is Not a Crime (or: Google Proves That Stallman Was Right)
We're generally gratified to see so many positive mentions of him
Why We Stopped Publishing Videos (for Now)
We'll probably get back to videos one day, but it's hard to say when or to what extent
What Animal Rights Activism Teaches Us About Sympathy and Focus
It's possible to believe that the planet is warming, that we must do something about it, and still eat eggs and butter
When You Turn Web Sites About Tech Into Political Sites
A lot of people fall into the trap of catering only for particular groups
Gemini Links 02/09/2025: ROOPHLOCH 2025 and Lagrange 1.19 Released
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: News Corp. WSJ and A Month With NixOS
Links for the day
“Sideloading” Never Killed Anybody
There are many online discussions this week about the misnomer "sideloading"
Slopwatch: Google News as FUD Vector Against Linux and Plagiarism Enhancer, Serial Slopper (SS) Uses LLMs to Googlebomb "Linux"
Slop destroys the Web not just by screwing with search engines and helping plagiarists. It's also responsible for de facto DDoS attacks...
Links 01/09/2025: "Attacks on Science" and China's "Soft Power" Grows
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2025: Fresh Backlash Against Slop and "Norway’s Electricity Crisis is About to Hit Britain"
Links for the day
Writing and Coding Isn't Always Enough
Last year we had to assume a role we didn't have before: litigants
Links 01/09/2025: Catching Up (Mostly via Deutsche Welle), "Windows TCO" Effect in UK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: Linguistic Barriers and "Web 1.0 Hosting"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 31, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 31, 2025
Autumn Has Come
Autumn should be exciting in all sorts of ways; it'll also mark our anniversary
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IV - External Interference
They all seem to be playing a role in crushing Software Freedom and self-determination for users