Reclaiming the internet from surveillance capitalism and building digital spaces that serve communities.
Web 1.0 let us read. Web 2.0 let us write. Web 3.0 lets us own. But ownership means nothing if it simply replicates existing power structures. The question we must ask is: ownership for whom? And toward what ends?
The Broken Promise of Web 2.0
Social media promised to democratize voice, to let anyone publish, to connect communities across borders. Instead, it delivered surveillance capitalism—a system that extracts our attention, our data, our relationships, and converts them into profit for a handful of corporations run almost entirely by men.
Women bear disproportionate costs of this system. We face harassment that platforms refuse to address. Our reproductive health data is sold to the highest bidder. Our emotional labor in building communities is captured as engagement metrics. We create the value; they capture the profit.
The Web 3.0 Promise
Web 3.0 technologies—blockchain, decentralized storage, cryptographic identity—offer tools to build a different kind of internet. One where users own their data. Where communities govern their platforms. Where value flows to creators, not extractors.
Imagine a social network where your followers are yours, portable across platforms. Where your creative work earns you money directly, without a platform taking 30%. Where your medical records are yours to share or withhold as you choose. This is the promise.
But Technology Is Not Neutral
The same tools that enable liberation can enable new forms of oppression. Crypto wealth is even more concentrated than traditional wealth. NFT spaces have been hostile to women and artists of color. DAOs often replicate the worst dynamics of corporate governance.
Building a better Web 3.0 requires intention. It requires centering the voices of those most harmed by the current system. It requires governance structures that prevent capture by the wealthy. It requires recognizing that technology alone changes nothing—only people building technology with values can change things.
A Feminist Web 3.0
What would a feminist Web 3.0 look like? It would prioritize consent in data sharing. It would compensate care work and emotional labor. It would build moderation systems that protect vulnerable users. It would distribute ownership broadly, not just to early adopters and venture capitalists.
Building Forward
We are still early in Web 3.0. The foundations are being laid now. The norms are being established now. The culture is being shaped now. This is our opportunity to build something better—not by hoping the technology will save us, but by actively shaping it to serve liberatory ends.