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How tech monopolies changed the web

@truTVAdamRuinsEverything's Adam Conover explains @CollegeHumor's recent collapse and how tech monopolies have hindered the discovery of independent creators.

The internet ruined everything

Adam Conover of TruTV’s Adam Ruins Everything got his start on the sketch comedy site CollegeHumor. For 2 decades, CollegeHumor was a launchpad for new voices in comedy — until the changing digital media landscape made its existence increasingly difficult.

What's changed with the media landscape is Facebook and also YouTube

The vision of the internet that we were sold in the late 90s, early 2000s was a fantasy, right? I believed it as much as anybody. "Hey, on the internet, no one knows your dog, right? Anybody can be anything. You can just start making content and people will watch it, you know, meritocracy, the gatekeepers are gone, etc., etc." And we had that for a good, what, 10 years or so, right, until all the large tech companies sprung up that started saying, "Hey, no, we're going to own this Wild West."

With the growth of tech monopolies, it’s become difficult for independent creators to compete

It's essentially been, "Hey, it was the Wild West, it was fun for a while," and then the railroad came through. Right? It's like in any Wild West movie, that's when the dream dies. And the railroad in this case is Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Twitter, Twitch, all these sites, right, that have so much power that we are not able to compete with them. If those sites are not allowing competitors to enter the marketplace, because they're refusing to show them in their newsfeed, that is enforceable behavior, enforceable bad behavior that we can prevent, with strenuous antitrust enforcement. So that's what needs to happen. I would say it's unlikely to happen in the current administration. However, it was also unlikely to happen in the previous administration. Obama's Justice Department was also asleep at the wheel on these issues. So, I think we need to see a sea change in how this sort of bad behavior is treated. And we need the Justice Department to start enforcing our antitrust laws.

Brut.

01/17/2020 6:47 PMupdated: 01/17/2020 6:51 PM
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37 comments

  • Tim B.
    3 days

    Adam sucks at everything

  • Daniel F.
    5 days

    Maybe if your content didn't suck, you'd have a bigger following.

  • Ollie G.
    6 days

    As I watch this on Facebook lmao

  • Chuck T.
    02/16/2020 02:11

    If you thought for one single second that corporate America wasn't going to get their hands on something designed SOLELY for scientists to share information across the globe, you're crazy

  • Audey N.
    02/15/2020 18:09

    You spread just as much propaganda as anybody with your show . So get off your high horse 🐎

  • Evon D.
    02/13/2020 05:40

    It is just too much whining from the same people, ...your people Adam.....your people....

  • Justin R.
    02/12/2020 04:12

    You don’t have to use Facebook. It’s voluntary. If Facebook didn’t exist college humor would have never had any traction. Stop crying.

  • Ronin M.
    02/11/2020 21:14

    Adam does ruin everything...and that means actual reality and anything that is funny. He basically speed word salad until you either just accept his point out of attrition or just walk away.

  • R.J. R.
    02/10/2020 00:40

    This guy is the most insufferable [email protected] on the planet.

  • Brandon R.
    02/10/2020 00:08

    Boohoo liberals complaining about what they were fighting for, now living in what they wanted and now complaining about it even more. Your show is a huge failure due to your inconsistency of actual facts. Lay in the bed you made ya douchbag!

  • James B.
    02/07/2020 20:29

    It collapsed because it sucked

  • Dmitry J.
    02/07/2020 13:14

    Not only was it propaganda, it was often just wrong, and stating opinions as fact. 🤦🏾‍♂️ ESPECIALLY Adam.

  • Richard E.
    02/06/2020 15:42

    Please same thing happened to national lampoon in the 90s. Antitrust wouldnt work cause there are multiple forms of social media owned by different companies not just Facebook. Also Smosh is still going since they got bought out by another entertainment group cause it was still funny college wasnt funny anymore so it died. Get over it.

  • Daniel D.
    02/06/2020 09:05

    I can explain the downfall of college humor in three words: “it isn’t funny.”

  • Joe T.
    02/05/2020 21:40

    Looking good . Grew your hair back.

  • Chris S.
    02/05/2020 11:46

    Thanks Adam, me and my gf love you, never stop never change

  • Anthony L.
    02/04/2020 00:34

    Anti-trust? They allowed Sprint & Team Mobile to merge. Adam forgets who is writing the rules, the oligarchs, the billionaires. While I 💯 percent agree with Adam, these paid government officials aren’t going to lift a finger. There are no more Teddy Roosevelts going after the Bezos and Zuckerbergs of cyberspace. Amazon is nightmare that needs to go, Facebook now reaches over a billion people. The government can’t even get their act together as no purposeful acts have been passed in 3 years.

  • Doug M.
    02/03/2020 03:15

    *watching this on facebook

  • Alex L.
    02/02/2020 17:29

    College humor stopped being funny when it got "woke" and started being preachy. It's cringey now. It's impossible to be funny when you're offended by everything. Let it die.

  • Judi L.
    01/31/2020 16:57

    So sorry, but sounds to me like this guys is just having a pity party because someone else came up with a better idea and it caused lesser ideas to die.... capitalism isn’t the same as monopoly, moron.