2025 is when the internet could finally die and the consequences will be huge

The 2000s will probably go down as the year that the technology industry built the foundations. By the end of that first decade, we had a version of the internet of today: a world of powerful, prevalent computers, streaming media, online shopping and the first inklings of social networks. And in the quieter, less divisive parts of the technology industry – those projects to build new kinds of sustainable technology, for instance, or innovative healthcare solutions – genuinely exciting new things are happening that could allow us to address global crises such as climate change and health inequalities. Mark Zuckerberg began this decade as one of the world’s most mocked and maligned men, but through an aggressive rebrand he has managed to back away from politics and other messy issues; his company has done much the same, changing from Facebook to Meta and at the same time moving away from division and politics into mushy influencer content and AI-generated slop. open image in gallery Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, arrive to testify before the US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, "Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis," in Washington Indeed, if there is anything new about the internet in this first half of the decade then it may be that: it looks, increasingly, like a dead place.