Internet chains

On its surface, the Internet appears to be a free-for-all, a place to communicate, exchange information or just read news. But the truth is that in the Internet is not an open space. It offers the illusion of freedom, even though our rights to access, create, distribute and secure information remain squarely in the hands of a few private companies. Today, 13 of the 30 largest publicly traded corporations in the US are Internet-related companies. To get a sense of what a big deal that is: only two of the top 30 are banks. Yet we always talk about how banks run the world.
The infrastructure in the United States are all owned by a handful of private companies, such as Comcast and Time Warner. The platforms we use on the Internet, such as Facebook and Google, are also run on servers owned by those private companies. We relinquish any rights we have the moment we sign up for any of these companies' services. The Bill of Rights does not apply to this privately owned space, nor do these companies honor those rights. Our data and information is theirs to package and sell, censor and limit.
Technology does have a great deal of influence on a society, but the way society is structured, the political economy of the society, has every bit as much influence as - generally more influence - the technology. It shapes the technology.
25% of all Internet time now is spent on Facebook which is like a walled garden. You have to be a member to participate. Facebook sets it up as a walled garden, because they want you in there and they want you to stay there. Over a billion people have accounts. That's an enormous number, and it invites some very serious questions. How does Facebook make its money? The same thing could be asked of Google. You don't pay for it; you basically get services for free, but why do investors invest in it? Where is the profit coming from? If you get something for free, you're not the customer. You're the product. So what Facebook gets and what Google gets - they're very similar - is that they know everything you do [while using their services]. It's their private property; they can do with it as they please, and that is an enormous amount of information, and their primary interest in doing this is commercial. They're going to take that information and sell it to other firms so they can use it to sell other stuff, or to politicians to sell ideas, or whatever. That's where they make their money. There's really no protection for you, because these firms are so powerful. The government protection amounts to mild wrist-slap fines, or a call for self-regulation by these firms. It's not in Facebook or Google's interest to advertise the fact that this is how they make their money. That's the last thing they want you to know.
The genius of the Internet was that everyone would have access to material that once only a select few could get. People can now all go to a web site and share material; it could create a global community. But what's happening is this information on people that we're giving to the Internet instead is channeling us into what we buy and what we click on. That undermines the Internet, which was to bring to you to a world you had no chance to see otherwise. Now, fueled entirely by advertising, instead, in keep you in a bubble of like-minded people.
Another problem is that those Internet cartels work very much hand in hand with government to the point that the Internet has become a military weapon and nations now engage in cyber warfare.

Adapted from here