The neo-feudal corporate landlords at Apple are charging creators on Patreon a 30% fee for all new memberships registered using the iOS app.
It's the perfect symbol of the future of the economy -- neo-feudal rent extraction by corporate monopolies.
🧵This is how the scam works:
It's the perfect symbol of the future of the economy -- neo-feudal rent extraction by corporate monopolies.
🧵This is how the scam works:
It all started with Big Tech corporations first offering supposedly "free" services (which were paid for by selling users' information).
Those "free" platforms soon became monopolies, and were so deeply embedded into the economy that they are now (privatized) digital utilities.
Those "free" platforms soon became monopolies, and were so deeply embedded into the economy that they are now (privatized) digital utilities.
A 20th-century economy needed utilities like an electrical grid, water plants, sewage system, highways, etc.
These natural monopolies should be publicly owned, provided as public goods to prevent rent-seeking by corporate landlords (although neoliberals want them privatized too)
These natural monopolies should be publicly owned, provided as public goods to prevent rent-seeking by corporate landlords (although neoliberals want them privatized too)
A 21st-century economy needs those basic utilities plus new digital infrastructure. But all of this digital infrastructure that economies are built on is privatized! You have internet providers, Windows, iOS, Apple Store, Play Store, Google, YouTube, Facebook, IG, WhatsApp, etc.
Good luck running a modern economy, in any country, without these privatized internet providers, operating systems, app stores, social media apps, messaging apps, etc.
This digital infrastructure is now nearly as important as the public utilities like the power and water grid.
This digital infrastructure is now nearly as important as the public utilities like the power and water grid.
If you want to make a small business, you'll probably go bankrupt very quickly if you don't use Amazon to sell, Apple Store / Google Play Store to download your app, Facebook/IG/YouTube for marketing, or WhatsApp for orders, not to mention private ISPs for an internet connection.
The only large country whose economy is not entirely colonized by US Big Tech is China, where Communist Party leaders were wise enough to realize they had to develop their own electronic infrastructure, to have digital sovereignty, so they aren't utterly beholden to US monopolies
Now that US Big Tech monopolies are deeply embedded into the fabric of the global economy, with no real competitors, they'll jack up rents.
The neo-feudal corporate landlords will charge more and more fees to use their "free" infrastructure.
This is global monopoly capitalism.
The neo-feudal corporate landlords will charge more and more fees to use their "free" infrastructure.
This is global monopoly capitalism.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
