We live inside sealed algorithmic bubbles that engineer emotion, identity and belief. Legacy journalism collapses; creators and influencers occupy the information space. Truth is no longer what can be proven, it’s what the platform amplifies — whatever keeps you scrolling, angry, loyal, predictable.
In 2025 democracy is brokered by opaque algorithms, global finance and AI surveillance. Platforms build personalized echo chambers, weaponize emotion, and harvest everyone’s data. Real power is invisible: whoever programs the networks decides what we see, what we think, what counts as true.
Hashtags began as a user-powered map of the web: open, decentralized, and fiercely democratic. Today, platforms push passive feeds and sideline that active choice. This piece tracks the arc from Chris Messina’s 2007 spark to Instagram’s 2024 de-prioritization, the “shadowban” chill, and the marketing chorus urging creators to drop tags. Verdict: hashtags still help human discovery and niche communities—exactly why platforms want them minimized. If you care about reach, autonomy, and culture, this is the battle line.
A journey beyond the hype of LLMs and AGI: what artificial intelligence really is, its current limits, and why the concept of intelligence remains complex and crucial for society and our future
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