Remember AOL chatrooms and downloading songs through Napster? The internet has come a long way.Today, it’s dominated by Meta, Google and a handful of other tech giants whose services have made it easier for billions of people to communicate and share content online.

But at what cost? “If something is free, you are the product,” so the saying goes — the only reason platforms like Facebook and YouTube can offer their services for free is because they use our personal data to target us with ads.

“Right now, you have big organizations who are controlling your data and providing you services that use your data,” says Bertrand Perez, chief operating officer of the Web3 Foundation.

Web3 is a hypothetical, future version of the net based on blockchain technology. Crypto enthusiasts say their vision for the web would decentralize it, pushing it closer to its roots. But big-name detractors — from Jack Dorsey to Elon Musk — aren’t convinced.