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Online decision makers like Apple have a point

    Gatekeepers like powerful tech companies have a bad reputation for controlling what happens online. But they don’t quite deserve the heat.

    One of the joys of the digital age is that individuals no longer need permission from powerful institutions. Cat tuxedo makers can set up shop online and don’t have to convince a major retailer to stock their product. People who have witnessed an emergency landing of a plane or experienced a war can share their experiences via social media instead of waiting for news organizations to tell their story.

    People don’t have to win over record labels, book publishers, or Hollywood bosses to entertain us. They can reach us directly.

    I regularly point out in On Tech that this power of the individual over the gatekeeper is only half true. Yes, anyone can write an app, create a new product, make a song, or share information, but the path to reaching people is largely through Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Spotify, and other powerhouses. Old dictators of information, products and entertainment may have lost their influence, but new digital gatekeepers have sprung up in their place.

    It’s unfortunate in a way, and it’s one reason technologists are drawn to “web3,” a broad term for an imaginary future Internet in which individuals have more control and ownership.

    But today I come in honor of gatekeepers. That doesn’t mean that web3 is a worthless idea or that we should bring back the old Hollywood system of determining which actors or writers were allowed to work and which were shunned.

    But there is also real value when trusted experts decide. Perhaps one of the reasons gatekeepers keep popping up is that they can be quite useful.

    Apple dictates which apps you can download on your iPhone and reviews every line of software code in it. Apple is an unabashed app gatekeeper. And while I’ve written before that the drawbacks of this approach may now outweigh the benefits, we must recognize the good that comes from an institution’s choice to remove apps it believes promote harmful behavior are of bad taste. rip off good ideas or try to steal our money.

    Likewise, it can be wonderful to have a choice of thousands of barbecue grills on Amazon or elsewhere online. But sometimes it can be a relief for our local Home Depot to have only three good ones in stock to choose from.

    Bonus: Home Depot probably won’t sell you counterfeit or dangerous grills. And if it does, it could be legally liable. Amazon may not be, if the grills are sold by independent merchants who sell on Amazon as if it were a flea market.

    I enjoy hearing directly from politicians and business leaders on Twitter and wading through a countless number of points of view on a news event. What else could I learn more about? Russian military truck tires directly from someone with first hand experience?

    But it’s also valuable when journalists go through information carefully and tell us what’s important. (Feel free to disagree with this journalist on the value of journalism.)

    Lucas Shaw, a Bloomberg News entertainment reporter, recently wrote about what he said was wrong with the web3-related moves to allow musicians or other entertainers to connect directly with fans without intermediaries like streaming services and record labels. “Most musicians, actors, writers, filmmakers and creatives prefer the support of an institution with expertise,” he wrote. “It makes their lives easier.”

    A good record label or agent can help polish a budding musician or actor, and a savvy publisher can identify book groups to help spread the word about a new title. Gatekeepers charge for their expertise, but they can add more than they take.

    This is not true everywhere. Some gatekeepers are clueless or hungry for power, and some creative people don’t want all this interference. But for others, unlike doing everything yourself, the help can be a blessing.

    There are things that absolutely stink about gatekeepers, be it older ones like corporate news organizations and Walmart or younger ones like Apple and YouTube.

    They sometimes make stupid decisions. They take away our choices and affect the autonomy and income of the people who make entertaining videos, books or cat costumes. Perhaps web3 will end the power of the few to act as arbitrators for the many, or perhaps it will consolidate power as every tech movement has had for decades.

    However, I hope we don’t throw away what is useful to gatekeepers, even if we rethink them.

    • Elon Musk makes some Twitter friends: A number of companies, investment funds and high net worth individuals, including Oracle founder Larry Ellison and cryptocurrency exchange Binance, have pledged approximately $7 billion for Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, my colleague Lauren Hirsch reported. They will co-own Twitter and the money will reduce the size of a loan Musk needs to pay for the $44 billion acquisition.

      More about Musk: My colleagues John Eligon and Lynsey Chutel report on the background of Musk’s childhood in apartheid South Africa.

    • When cyber criminals disrupt the school: Bloomberg News charts the cost to schools of ransomware attacks, in which criminals lock down institutional computer systems and data until paid. Lincoln College in Illinois blamed a pandemic-related ransomware attack and declining enrollment for the decision to close next week.

    • The YouTube Videos That Are Perfectly Tailored For Your Kids: My colleague David Segal writes about the company behind “CoComelon” and other wildly popular online entertainment for kids and the data-driven methods — including a tool called the Distractatron — that executives use to analyze what’s on the minds of young children.

    1984, Keanu Reeves presented a Canadian TV news report about a teddy bear convention. It was amazing. (Yes, it’s real. The CBC dug this up from his archives in 2020.) Thanks to my colleague Erin McCann for sharing the video.

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