The Origins of Web3 And Why It Matters More Than Ever

The first month of 2021 sparked conversations about topics core to the ideas of building a decentralized internet, often termed Web3:

• WhatsApp announced it will start sharing data with its parent company Facebook
• Uganda ordered internet service providers to block all social media platforms
• The U.S is in a first amendment tailspin as it reckons with banning President Trump from Twitter and the censorship of Parlor (an alt-right Twitter) from using AWS servers and the removal from both Google and Apple app stores

While these are unnerving topics, they are becoming increasingly important to understand.

Small businesses and startups live and die by the services like Facebook ads and Google Search recommendations provided by our tech overlords. Artists and creator economy workers face the risk of getting deplatformed everyday on sites like Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok. These aren’t new issues, but have grown over the past several years as more polarized and ideological factions collide. The growth of centralized tech monopolies and their increasing encroachment on personal freedoms and business outcomes is expediting the transition of the internet from its current state – Web2 – into its next phase, Web3.

The Origins of Web3