I, always [and still], believe that the web is the most open platform, but a while ago, I hit this [1], entitled "Gatekeepers: These tech firms control what’s allowed online". Only then did I start questioning my assumptions. I mean, while it is still the most open platform, the question I raised was "How far is it open?"
that people have used to create closed systems that act as if there is nothing outside of its walls. if you drew a map of the "internet" so that closed systems (apps) with their walls are cities and everything else is unexplored areas marked with "here be dragons", then you'd see there's a lot more land mass outside of those closed systems.
in principle, you can sidestep them, because they are gatekeepers only to their own garden, so the web is still in principle open, and it's one of the few systems that are still open. But if you do something they dont like or something they will shut you out. Or if you do something governments dont like, they will compell them to shut you out. This is the problem, our democracies are still supposed to be liberal. It will take political effort to change that very bad habit
This is 2022. We can't pretend our governmnets can be tech illiterate anymore, and we should not be allowing it
[1].https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/24/online-...