Why Governments Cannot (and Should Not) Rebuild the Internet
- Arash Nia
- Nov 18
- 2 min read
I have been following the development of this story since January, when Spain’s Prime Minister used his Davos address to call social media a “common resource for humanity.”
He proposed sweeping interventions: ending online anonymity, enforcing algorithmic transparency, and holding platform CEOs personally responsible for harms on their networks.
In the months since, Europe has begun moving in that direction.
The Digital Services Act has expanded its oversight.
The Algorithmic Transparency Centre is strengthening its auditing capabilities.
The EU digital identity framework is progressing across member states.
All of this signals the same trend.
Governments see the collapse of trust online and are preparing to intervene.
But here is the core issue:
This is not a problem governments are equipped to solve, and it is not a problem they should be trying to solve.
Regulation can spotlight what is broken, but it cannot rebuild the internet.
It cannot redesign incentives.
It cannot shift platform economics.
And it cannot innovate at the pace or depth required to fix systemic digital trust.
Most importantly, regulation cannot change the business models that created the problem in the first place.
Incumbent platforms will not adopt real accountability because doing so would undermine the engines that power their revenue.
Opacity drives engagement.
Anonymous accounts increase volume.
Lack of responsibility protects margins.
You cannot regulate a platform into abandoning the very incentives it depends on.
The accountability era is coming, but it will not be delivered by policy.
It will be built by new platforms that design accountability into the product itself.
Verified identity as the starting point.
Incentives aligned with user value.
Transparent systems that do not rely on manipulation.
Architectures where trust emerges from design, not enforcement.
Governments are stepping in because the current system is failing.
But the real solution will come from builders, not regulators.
From platforms designed with different assumptions and different incentives from day zero.
That is where meaningful accountability begins.
The news article that inspired this post for the curious:
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