The system of "liberal democracy" has already created an environment where we're totally locked in with a few very large corporations -- Google, Meta, Apple, PayPal.
Whatever Elon builds will have to compete with all of those existing options, most of which are backed by major players with deep pockets.
The result of such competition is going to push everyone in the space to try harder, which will probably benefit consumers.
there are no viable alternatives to facebook.
there are no alternatives to apple if i want to reach a significant amount of people (all iphone users)
likewise there are no viable alternatives to google play or youtube if i want to reach a lot of people with my apps or videos.
ok, there probably are some alternatives to paypal, so that one is weak.
Currently crypto is doing some heavy lifting here, but it has its own issues.
I agree that if you're an app developer, you cannot ignore Apple, but as an end user many people can (and do) completely ignore Apple, Facebook and Paypal.
Google can be avoided, but it's significantly more work to do so.
(That is pretty much why Facebook is the only big one still around -- Myspace and Google both tried and failed. People had choice, and they picked a winner.)
Putting it another way, concentration and popularity don't mean there are no choices. It just means that the majority of consumers have chosen one or two of the options. That's different from the WeChat situation.
Another difference: you are free to avoid Facebook, even if your friends and family are on it. A lot of people do. Just ask them to phone you or use email. However, in China, if you don't have a WeChat account there are a lot of places where you just won't be able to pay for things because WePay is the only accepted form of payment.
Imagine if every restauraunt, retailer, etc. in your city would only accept Google Pay -- and they wouldn't even take cash. That is what an unavoidable service actually looks like.
Just ask them to phone you or use email
i can ask them, but i can't force them. reality is that without facebook i am excluded from a lot activities because i can't demand that everyone accommodate my unwillingness to be on facebook.
the same is true on wechat. there are a lot of groups that simply do not exist outside of facebook or wechat, and a lot of social contacts and activities would simply stop if i were to leave.
having someones phone number or email means i can contact them if there is something important, but it doesn't mean that it will get me invited to activities. that only works for a handful of very close friends and relatives, but not for the wider circle of loose friends and acquaintances.
wechat pay is not as bad actually. i usually avoid using it (if only to test how they react) and in most cases there was no problem to use cash as an alternative. there were a few exceptions where someone at the counter used their own wechat account to pay for me and i gave them cash in private, but i can't remember that i was ever refused service. especially as a foreigner, people are more likely to believe that i really can't pay with wechat.
if we had multiple social network with a significant user base then most interesting groups would be active on all of them and i could choose. it would also be easier to argue that i don't want to be on more than one service instead of giving the impression that i am a luddite that rejects modern technology.
My family has a whatsapp chat (yes, Facebook, but could easily be Signal) where all the child photos, news sharing, etc happens.
Of my friend group, almost no one actually posts on Facebook anymore. Looking at the feed now, it's: - the one guy that actually does post the occasional rant - gaming group post - someone is going to an event - skeptics group post - event I'm going to posted an update and then a bunch of updates from companies or organisations I follow
Since then, the working class has been arguing among itself while the rich and powerful reap the rewards. I’d call that conservative capitalism, not liberal democracy.