Web3 generally refers to the next generation of the worldwide web.. (Illustration by C R Sasikumar) Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey have mocked the concept of a hypothetical new iteration of the internet called Web3 or Web 3.0.
Web3 is a tech buzzword, which refers to the next generation of the worldwide web, supposed to take over from Web2.0, which is more centralised and focused on user-created content. The concept of Web3 is hailed by the proponents as a decentralised version of the internet based on blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens, or NFTs.
Musk on Tuesday tweeted, “Has anyone seen web3? I can’t find it.” To this, Dorsey replied, “It’s somewhere between a and z.”
Web3 is meant to give users ownership stakes in platforms and applications, according to its backers, while in Web2, the current form of the Internet, only a few major tech giants such as Meta and Alphabet’s Google control the platforms.
This is not the first time Musk and Dorsey have mocked the idea of Web3.
Earlier this week, Musk reiterated that Web3 is not exactly real, and seems “more marketing buzzword than reality right now.” Musk on Twitter posted a clip by angel investor Jason Calacanis that shows Bill Gates’ old interview with David Letterman.
In the interview, Gates explains the concept of the internet (referring to Web1) by saying it allows users to access content at any point in time. Calacanis agrees with Gates as the internet allows anyone to publish anything with almost no gatekeeping.
“You don’t own “web3,” Dorsey tweeted, last week. “The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralised entity with a different label. Know what you’re getting into…”
Meanwhile, replying to a Twitter thread a few weeks ago, Musk said Web3 “sounds like BS”. Musk disclosed his views while commenting on a Twitter thread by American entrepreneur and investor Sam Altman, who suggested that Web3 “might still have 2010s-like returns” and cautioned against over expectation from it.
His stance was that the returns on investment in Web3 would not be very different from those made in the 2010s.
It should be noted that a lot of work has to be done to lay the foundation for Web3 —meaning that users, developers, tech companies, and others would have to come in on agreements around how the Web3 protocols would work. Only when this work gets going, and when financial incentives align behind it, will Web3 start to get real.
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