Wêrom it Iepen Ynternet Stikje foar Stikje Tichtmakke Wurdt
June 7, 2025 · Frisian News
Governments and tech giants have begun fragmenting the global internet through content blocking, surveillance requirements, and national walling off. What started as an open network now faces systematic closure through regulation and commercial pressure.
FryskIn software-yngenieur yn Bangkok kin gjin websiden berikke dy't har Amerikaanske freondinne alle dagen brûkt. In ûndersiker yn Moskou sjocht syn tagong ta wittenskiplike artikelen moanne nei moanne lytser wurden. In lytse bedriuwseigeneresse yn it lânlike Brazilië sjocht har online winkel blokkearre troch in nij systeem foar belestingneilibjen dat se net begripe kin. Dit binne gjin flaters. Dit binne it gefolch fan doelbewuste beliedskarren fan regearingen en bedriuwen om it ynternet dat sy eartiids frij en iepen meitsje soenen ticht te meitsjen.
De fragmentaasje begûn stil, dêrnei fersnelde it. Sina boude syn Grutte Muorre desennia lyn. De Jeropeeske Uny sette de Digital Services Act yn, dy't platfoarms twangt ynhâld fluch te ferwiderjen of gigantike boeten te riskearjen. Grut-Brittanje easket dat bedriuwen fan sosjale media bewiisje dat sy har eigen romten kontrôlearje. Yndia blokkearret websiden dy't it as in bedriging sjocht. Ruslân en Iran keppelen harsels yn needsituaasjes folslein los fan it wrâldwide netwurk. Elke regearing leaut dat sy om goede redens hannelt: feilichheid, wissichheid, folkssûnens, nasjonale souvereiniteit. Elke stap fielt lyts, rjochtfeardich, nedich. Tegearre deadzje sy it ynternet fan earder.
Techbedriuwen fersnelle it proses út eigen kar. Meta, Google en Amazon kontrôlearje de liedingen wêrtroch de measte minsken it web berikke. Sy stelle har eigen regels, feroarje dy sûnder warskôging en ferbanne brûkers en ynhâld sûnder hearring. Dizze bedriuwen operearje as poartwachters dy't machtiger binne as elke regearing yn berik, dochs hawwe sy gjin demokratyske ferantwurding. Doe't Twitter fan eigner feroare, skreau ien man de regels oer fan de iene op de oare nacht. As TikTok regelgeving te ferwachtsjen hat, folget it gewoan befeallen op ynstee fan te fjochtsjen. It ynternet is in nutsbedriuw wurden, mar nutsbedriuwen hearre ta húsbazen, net oan it publyk.
De druk komt út echte problemen dy't regearingen en bedriuwen brûke om ôfslutingen te rjochtfeardigjen. Misinformaasje ferspriedt him fluch. Misbrûk fan bern ferberget him yn tsjustere hoeken. Terroristen wervje online. Bedrog kostet minsken jild. Dizze bedrigingen binne echt. Mar de oanbean oplossing, altyd, is om gesachsfigueren mear macht te jaan oer wat bliuwt en wat giet. In pear freegje wa't beslút, neffens hokker noarm, of wat bart as dy macht him útwreidet nei politike taspraken, konkurrinsje tusken bedriuwen of ûnpopulêre mieningen. It meganisme boud om de slimste ynhâld tsjin te hâlden, wurdt it ark om it inkeld ûngemaklike te ûnderdrukken.
Lytse lannen en lytse bedriuwen fiele de druk earst. Sy kinne net ûnderhannelje mei Google of Meta of Apple. Sy kinne net lobbyen by Brussel of Washington. Sy akseptearje de regels fan oaren of sy ferdwine. De dream fan it ynternet as in ark foar de machteleazen, in manier foar in persoan yn in lyts doarp om de wrâld te berikken, hat plak makke foar in werklikheid wêryn in hantsjefol bedriuwen en regearingen bepale wat miljarden sjen en sizze kinne. It ynternet wie nea echt iepen. Mar it slút no flugger, en nimmen stimt deroer.
A software engineer in Bangkok cannot reach websites her American friend uses every day. A researcher in Moscow watches his access to academic papers shrink month after month. A small business owner in rural Brazil finds her online store blocked by a new tax compliance system she cannot navigate. These are not glitches. They are the result of deliberate policy choices made by governments and corporations to close off the internet they once promised would be free and open.
The fragmentation began quietly, then accelerated. China built its Great Firewall decades ago. The European Union imposed the Digital Services Act, which forces platforms to remove content at speed or face ruinous fines. Britain demands that social media companies prove they police their own spaces. India blocks websites it deems a threat. Russia and Iran disconnect from the global network entirely in emergencies. Each government believes it acts for good reasons: safety, security, public health, national sovereignty. Each step feels small, justified, necessary. Together they kill the internet that existed before.
Tech companies accelerate the process by choice. Meta, Google, and Amazon control the pipes through which most people reach the web. They set their own rules, change them without warning, and ban users and content without appeal. These companies operate as gatekeepers more powerful than any government in their reach, yet they face no democratic accountability. When Twitter changed ownership, one man rewrote the rules overnight. When TikTok faces regulatory pressure, it simply follows orders rather than fight. The internet has become a utility, but utilities belong to landlords, not to the public.
The push comes from real problems that governments and companies use to justify closures. Misinformation spreads fast. Child exploitation hides in dark corners. Terrorists recruit online. Fraud costs people money. These threats are genuine. But the solution offered, always, is to give authority figures more power to decide what stays and what goes. Few ask who decides, by what standard, or what happens when that power spreads to political speech, business competition, or unpopular opinion. The mechanism built to stop the worst content becomes the tool to suppress the merely inconvenient.
Small countries and small businesses feel the squeeze first. They cannot negotiate with Google or Meta or Apple. They cannot lobby Brussels or Washington. They accept the rules written by others or they disappear. The dream of the internet as a tool for the powerless, a way for a person in a small town to reach the world, has yielded to a reality where a handful of companies and governments decide what billions can see and say. The internet was never truly open. But it is closing faster now, and nobody votes on it.
Published June 7, 2025 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân