Web3 Feud Escalates: Elon Musk, Andrew Torba, Jack Dorsey, Marc Andreessen

Keneci Channel

Ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen entered the fray this week, after the Block CEO ribbed Andreessen's VC firm and the so-called web3.

It is generally agreed among internet users and builders that while the second iteration of the worldwide web or web 2.0 has spurred extraordinary innovations, it has also accelerated the concentration of virtual power in the hands of few abusive multinational corporations.

This development has indeed deviated from the original vision of web 1.0 -- the 'wild wild west' of decentralised worldwide web.

Builders in various fields including social media and Bitcoin are attempting to make the internet open again, free of authoritarian and censorship-prone walled-gardens like Apple and Google app stores; and social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter.

The CEO of Gab Andrew Torba wrote about a parallel tech ecosystem in which the original vision of free speech and open conversations reign without fear of censorship.

Web 3.0 can arguably be described as a mix of decentralized and pro-free-speech  'centralized' systems, protocols and tools forming the basis of the new iteration of the worldwide web.

This is the vision espoused by Bitcoin enthusiasts,  founders like Torba, and to a more unclear extent, Dorsey with his Bluesky launch.

However critics have started pointing out that Ethereum and Non-fungible Token(NFT) enthusiasts and 'get-rich-quick' venture capitalists are trying to hijack and abuse the normal progression to web 3.0, by aggressively pushing nonsensical and scam-ridden projects in the more trendy name of 'web3.'

Dorsey believes that web3 has been corrupted by investments and influence of venture capital firms, particularly Andreessen Horowitz.

“You don’t own ‘web3’,” Dorsey tweeted late Monday. “The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives.”

Many web3 enthusiasts reacted swiftly criticizing the ex-Twitter CEO. While some claimed he's against the web3 space because he has no control over it, others slammed him for not doing enough at Twitter to stop the authoritarian censorship on the platform, which is one of the factors driving the effort to build a more decentralized pro-free speech web.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk also entered the fray. "Has anyone seen web3?" he tweeted. "I can't find it." To which Dorsey replied: "It's somewhere between a and z." referencing a common shorthand for the venture capital firm Andreessen co-founded, which goes by A16Z.

The fight escalated Wednesday, when Andreessen, apparently incensed by the barb, blocked Dorsey from seeing or responding to his tweets, prompting another quip from Dorsey: “I’m officially banned from web3.”

Dorsey believes any truly decentralized technology needs to be fully independent, as he made clear in a Twitter exchange with Chris Dixon, another Andreessen Horowitz investor, on Monday night: “It’s critical we focus our energy on truly secure and resilient technologies owned by the mass of people, not individuals or institutions,” he wrote.

Torba agrees with Dorsey. "Jack has seen first hand how VCs destroy companies and the true vision of Founders in their bloodlust for profit and monopolization," the Gab co-founder tweeted. "He sees the same exact thing happening with web3: a total subversion of what bitcoin and real FOSS projects are accomplishing.... He's also right and all of you know it which is why the entire VC world is melting down today. The reaction proves the truth of his words. If he was wrong you'd all ignore him and just keep building because what he said wouldn't matter if web3 was truly decentralized."

On another front, computer engineer and Bitcoin educator Dplusplus was kicked off a Twitter Spaces panel Wednesday. She joined a panel hosted by far-left tech reporters Kara Swisher and Casey Newton, to discuss the hype surrounding web3.

"Web3 is an amalgamation of narratives that make no sense,"  Dplusplus said during her thorough evisceration of the scam-ridden web3 space. She suggested the web3 narrative is largely pushed by backers of the crypto project Ethereum.

While the computer engineer supports "re-decentralizing the web," she said it's ridiculous to think "the web" can be built on a blockchain.

The Bitcoin educator pointed out that most of the web3 enthusiasts she has interacted with, cannot even explain in concrete terms what it means.

"Web3 is a set of solutions looking for a problem," Dplusplus said.

Before the computer engineer could go into even more detail, Newton rudely interrupted her and shut her off the discussion.

Guess we all have to get on the same page -- leave the 'web3' name for the VCs, Ethereum and NFT enthusiasts; and use the web 3.0 for: the mix of decentralized and pro-free-speech centralized platforms, systems, protocols and tools?

WATCH far-left host Casey Newton kick off Dplusplus from the Twitter Spaces panel.