Originally published on the Comment Central.

Big Tech firms degrade our information environment, both within and beyond the boundaries of their platforms. Dominant firms describe themselves as providing walled gardens which are safe and secure, and claim to invest heavily in combating problematic content. Yet aside from scandals suggesting otherwise, there is reason to be sceptical. Inflammatory and addictive content drives levels of engagement and, thus advertising revenue on platforms. Large platforms are also juicy targets for scammers and spammers, and need to rely on automated systems to moderate content at such a vast scale. By virtue of their monopoly power, these firms are also unlikely to be responsive to customer demands for higher quality content.