A new Techdirt series, "The Metric Is Not The Mission," examines how Big Tech drifted from expanding the open internet to reshaping it around internal metrics. The ten-part analysis argues that the platforms' current behavior reflects a deep-seated focus on measurement and optimization, rather than the original goals of connectivity and openness.
The series contends that this shift was not accidental but followed from the incentives and assumptions baked into the platforms' business models. As companies grew, the metrics they tracked began to define what they built, often at the expense of the users and communities that had made the internet open in the first place.
The title itself points to a broader critique: that the numbers became the mission, even as the original purpose was lost. Techdirt suggests that this is a story about understanding — and losing sight of — the people the internet was meant to serve.