Introduction

Many of us signed up to Facebook unaware of what it meant to use a free product. There are always costs, so value has to be extracted somehow. Your data, time and attention are your payments. Had we known then what we know now, we may have chosen differently.

It is also important to acknowledge that while value was extracted by social media platforms of Web2, the bigger story is actually a more positive one. Individuals could create content, share it with the world, and get paid without leaving their homes.

Despite this freedom which we have to express ourselves and get paid for the value we create, we also know that the Internet is not as free as intended.

Accessing the web, posting content, and receiving payment involves numerous service providers lurking in the background. These service providers can block your content, halt your payments, or simply remove you from the platform entirely. Every service provider is a potential point of censorship, and they all extract value from you.

Blockchain is a technology for disintermediation. It is possible to remove the unnecessary service providers that stand between creators and consumers. We see an interesting paradox where blockchain technology is most valuable when it extracts as little value as possible from its users.

Facebook shouldn’t sell your data without paying you. YouTube shouldn’t get paid more for advertising than you do. Twitter shouldn’t be able to ban you or block your tweets because they disagree with you.

This is why we have created Subsocial. A web3 technology with the promise of data sovereignty. You control the data you create. Your content, your value.