The internet rewarded indifferent speculators rather than nurturing creative flourishing

Evidence

The techno-optimistic worldview had promised a renaissance of creativity, in which niche creators could flourish and global connections would expand human knowledge. By the late 2010s, the opposite had occurred: Platforms incentivized people with little interest in culture to clog public spaces with low-quality, ad-driven content. Rather than a hub of innovation, the internet had become an engine for mediocrity. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 521

Categorization

• XREF: This is the negative-case claim within Marx’s overall thesis; reader will need it to argue whether blankness is real or a distance artifact.