Point of entry, browser & advertising: Google pretty much owns the web

Alan Gibson, in a short but astute blog post about how Google more or less owns the web as its own platform:

Chrome’s ability to dictate web standards will only get stronger over time. Safari and Firefox have been able to apply some shame to Chrome on things like disabling third-party cookies, but soon it’ll just be Apple left with a voice.

But Google doesn’t even need Chrome to dictate standards since it controls the Web’s front door. AMP, a technology no one asked for, is now on over 70% of all marketing websites for no other reason than Google said so.

I think on the contrary a lot of publishers asked for something like AMP. They had terrible and slow websites, no time or ressource to work on a new one, and Google gave them a simple solution on a gold platter: “use our technology and it will help you get more traffic from mobile devices,” an offer they couldn’t refuse really. This dependance on Google, both for traffic, technology, and money, cannot be good for media but here we are.

This blog post also reminded me of the existence of this excellent tweet.