The internet, once a great unifier, is being increasingly fragmented across countries. It is no longer certain that users can access anything from anywhere or that internet companies can have global reach.
China has strict firewalls that block out large swaths of content and services, Russia blocked Telegramand threw out LinkedIn, and Egypt is blocking YouTube for a month. The European Union's GDPR rules have gone into effect and someU.S. websites have gone dark in the EU. The EU may soon add alink tax that will darken even more sites. People in developing countries can get free, but super limited internet courtesy of Facebook. In the U.S., net neutrality rules have been weakened, potentially allowing transmission providers to block or slow access to certain content, and users are inceasingly isolated into "filter bubbles" where they only choose to see and believe news that already reinforces their beliefs. New blockchain-based companies like Orchid and Newbound Network are attempting to address this but it will be challenging to overcome.