Mastodawn

In Yesterday's IO Keynote Google declared war on the remnants of the Web.

While they packaged it as a lot of "AI" talk what their whole approach of decontextualizing information, of taking away links to sources and instead producing some LLM generated response means is that they want to establish a new abstraction layer on the web. Where Zuckerberg with his Metaverse failed Google is starting the next attack: Your website, your work no longer matters.

Well it matters as (unpaid) raw material for their synthetic text extruders but not as cultural artifact you can share with others.

This is a literal revolution but one against the participatory web, against us: The goal is to take away the web and guide people into Google's abstraction on top of it. An abstraction they control and moderate. It's about monopolizing access to information.

If you care about the web, about people's ability to participate in it as more than mere passive consumers, this needs to be taken seriously. De-Googlifying your mental apparatus becomes more urgent today. Find other search engines, don't use their browser. Or wake up in a slopified AOL kind of environment.

@tante ok so we're at war with ... (checks notes) Google? Not Meta? Not Microsoft? Not Amazon? Not Oracle? Not Palantir? Not Apple? Not Tesla? Not X?

Jeff Atwood 2d ago

@tante I think we're gonna need a bigger boat

neutronstar 2d ago

@codinghorror @tante
Do you have something that is Ark sized maybe..?

Also, I use Mojeek :)

@codinghorror why not all of them? ;)

This is not a "just google is bad" kind of thing. It's just that the one company that structures most people's access to the web decided to change the contract unilaterally. I think that that specific thing needs highlighting while also burning Meta and X and all them to the ground. We can contain multitudes (of ways of defending access to information, expression and connection)

Jeff Atwood 2d ago

@tante why not all of us? aren't humans the original mistake?

@codinghorror corporations aren't humanity jeff
@tante

goedelchen 2d ago

@jackeric @codinghorror @tante Corporations don't act. It's always humans within or behind them.

@goedelchen @codinghorror @tante Better to act against the corporation itself if at all possible, rather than the people leading them - we can't all be Luigi

Jeff Atwood 2d ago

@jackeric @goedelchen @tante only the very best of us can be Luigi.

Adam Davis 9h ago

@goedelchen @jackeric @codinghorror @tante
Corporations guide the decisions of people within or behind them to "maximize shareholder value". Corporations also shield those people from responsibility and diffuse responsibility across multiple people. Large corporations also receive government handouts because they're "too big to fail". The general public shouldn't defend corporations, they should be sceptical of them and occasionally avoid or resist them.

Jeff Atwood 2d ago

@tante I feel like no one actually wants to take full responsibility here. It's always something else, someone else that's the problem, isn't it? Never us. It's them. They're the problem... right?

Jeff Atwood 2d ago

@tante I think we can do significantly better than this. But what do I know. Take my advice and do as you please.

@codinghorror Look, I'd love to take your advice into consideration, I just don't fully get what you are going for

Jeff Atwood 2d ago

@tante pretty sure I made it quite clear here https://infosec.exchange/@codinghorror/116606215038359341 I can definitely keep typing if ya want me to

Jeff Atwood 2d ago

@tante (protip: ya don't, really. KILL META NOW)

Bruce Heerssen 2d ago

@codinghorror @tante

No, no. We need to kill it dead. Break it apart. Facebook becomes its own thing. Ditto WhatsApp, and on down the line. Meta becomes a footnote in anti-trust law text books.

Bruce Heerssen 8h ago

@codinghorror @tante

LOL. Re-reading your post just now, I see i misunderstood. We are in agreement. Kill Meta dead.

Ankh-Morpork Zoning Dept 🌱2d ago

@codinghorror Solid list Jeff, but I really don't understand why you're being a dick to @tante about this. "focus fire" also means minimizing friendly fire against key allies :/

Ruth [☕️ 👩🏻‍💻📚✍🏻🧵🪡🍵]2d ago

@coreysnipes @codinghorror @tante would love Jeff to learn focus fire doesn’t mean sniping others.

a libi rose 2d ago

@platypus @coreysnipes @codinghorror @tante would love him to also learn he ain't the boss of the world

@codinghorror I am 100% on board with you. I've shot against all those companies, have advised policians and parliaments to take action against them.

@codinghorror it’s a solid list but surely it needs updating once in a while. Today Google made its move, @tante commented on it. You surely can disagree with needing to highlight these new events but is it a reason to shoot him down? You can keep pushing Meta while others hold other parts of the frontline if you let me torture the metaphor. We’re bound to get new enemies, we need to be aware of changes out there and we need to adapt, not stay on some static list.

@codinghorror I don't follow that train of thought to be honest. Where does this "humans are the problem" angle come from? I am talking about a specific move by a monopolist and a) the ways that people might try to protect themselves and b) ways of using collective power (as in politics) to protect the greater good

Jimmy Callin 2d ago

@tante @codinghorror you can't analyze this as a specific move by a monopolist in isolation from everything else happening

Jeff Atwood 2d ago

@callin @tante you guys wake me up when you've killed Meta off, then we'll talk turkey.

Jeff Atwood 2d ago

@tante it just depends if you want to be effective or not. See https://infosec.exchange/@codinghorror/116606215038359341 .. I ain't the boss of you, nor do I pretend to be. Do whatever you want.

@codinghorror I think Substack belongs on your list for literally funding Nazis.

Jeff Atwood 2d ago

@mathew substack also sucks, I completely agree

Conny Nasch 2d ago

@tante Take a look at this - it is heartening 🤗

republica 2026 berlin

*1 day ago From 18-20 May 2026, STATION Berlin will once again be hosting talks, panels, workshops, meetups, an expo area, makerspaces and more with over 1,000 speakers on more than 20 stages.* @codinghorror

Marc 🐷🌏2d ago

@codinghorror @tante
US BT

@codinghorror @tante It's actually all of them... despite we are not really at war with them, because they need us to survive. So we are more at war with ourselves to actually care about the stuff we do and use every day.