They (the big three) should not be allowed to own our internet interactions anymore than the phone company could listen to and profit from our conversations or regulate what we talk about.
If you think people just simply didn't like what InfoWars would spew, you have another thing coming.
Read up on Pizzagate. Someone went into a pizza parlor with a gun to investigate Alex Jones's claims that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex trafficking ring in the basement. Innocent lives could have been lost for bullshit InfoWars was spouting.
This goes well beyond "I just don't like you." InfoWars is outright dangerous and is poisoning the minds of Americans.
> They (the big three) should not be allowed to own our internet interactions
They don't.
You're still free to use other messaging platforms, or even make your own! The startup costs for creating a web site/app are astronomically low.
That article even says that there was "extensive reporting showing that the Bush administration was making plans for an Iraq invasion before the advent of intelligence used to justify it."
The point is that it was an integral part of a propaganda campaign to sell the Iraq War.
The meme of "fake news" fuels an environment of groupthink deciding what should be outright ignored. It is thus a tool of power, not truth.
[0] I am aware of the general blindspot created by writing these people off as idiots, alas.
There's also the question of can something like youtube, where there's pretty much no restrictions on who can upload and how much they can upload, be profitable at a smaller scale or without being the subsidiary of a larger corporation with another huge money pipe?