How We Can Escape This Techno-Feudal Nightmare

Welcome to Cloudalism—The Digital Serfdom You Didn’t Agree To

You don’t own your digital life. Not really.

Every post, search, and like you drop online feeds an invisible empire—one ruled by algorithmic landlords who extract, manipulate, and profit off your every move.

They decide what’s visible, what’s viral, and what gets buried. And unlike old-school capitalists who at least had to sell something, these cloud-based overlords—let’s call them cloudalists—sell you.

Cloudalism is the new feudalism, but instead of land, the ruling class controls the internet’s infrastructure.

A handful of platforms—Meta, Google, TikTok—have quietly transformed from tech companies into attention plantations, harvesting data, weaponizing algorithms, and forcing businesses to kneel before their ad-driven fiefdoms.

How did we get here? More importantly, how do we get out?

The answer lies in decentralization. Not the Silicon Valley crypto-bro version, where blockchain is just another get-rich-quick scheme, but a real shift toward systems where users own the platforms they rely on. It’s the foundation of a solarpunk future—a future where digital communities have autonomy, where technology serves people instead of exploiting them, and where a handful of billionaires don’t control what we see, think, and believe.

The bad news is that we’re already deep in the feudal system. The good news is that revolutions don’t happen overnight—they start with small acts of defiance. But before we get into the solution, we need to break down how the cloudalists took power in the first place.

The Silent Takeover of Techno-Feudalism

From Factories to Feeds: How Capitalism Stopped Selling Goods and Started Selling You

Capitalism used to be about making things—cars, clothes, appliances. Factories ruled the economy, and whoever controlled manufacturing controlled the world. But over the last century, capitalism has undergone a transformation. The most valuable companies no longer produce physical goods.

Instead, they manufacture desire.

At first, this shift happened through advertising. In the 20th century, corporations learned how to engineer demand, using mass media to convince people that happiness came from buying the right products. But now, we’ve entered an era where companies don’t just create desire—they control the entire ecosystem that shapes it.

Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Google don’t just distribute content. They shape the way people think, behave, and interact with the world. They don’t just show you ads—they decide which ads you see, which ideas gain traction, and which voices get drowned out. And because their power is hidden behind algorithms, they don’t have to justify their decisions to anyone.

These platforms aren’t selling a product. They are the product. More specifically, you are the product.

Your attention, your habits, your impulses—every digital trace you leave behind is mined, processed, and auctioned off to advertisers in a never-ending cycle of psychological manipulation.

Instagram doesn’t just show you pictures—it teaches you to crave validation.
TikTok doesn’t just entertain—it trains your brain to seek endless dopamine hits.
Google doesn’t just help you search—it tracks your thoughts before you even finish typing.

And in this new system, the ones who own the algorithms own the world.

Meet the Cloudalists: The New Feudal Overlords of the Internet

In the old days, kings controlled land. Today, cloudalists control platforms.

Think of them as digital landlords—Zuckerberg, Bezos, Google’s Alphabet. They don’t sell anything directly. Instead, they extract rent from everyone who does.

• Amazon takes up to 30% from sellers just to exist on its marketplace.

• Google forces businesses to pay for ads just to be visible in search results.

• Meta (Facebook/Instagram) charges brands ransom money to reach the followers they already have.

Even massive corporations are reduced to algorithmic vassals, forced to play by the cloudalists’ rules—or be erased from the digital landscape entirely.

For individual users, the deal is even worse.

Every action you take online generates data. That data is fed into machine learning models that predict what you’ll do next, optimizing platforms to be as addictive as possible. The more time you spend scrolling, the more money they make. And if you ever try to break free? The algorithms fight back—pulling you in with notifications, artificially boosting engagement on certain posts, and burying content that suggests alternative platforms.

This isn’t just about targeted ads. This is about the centralization of power in a way that hasn’t been seen since the days of monarchs and lords.

The Infinite Regress of Algorithmic Control

The most insidious part of this system isn’t just that it exploits you—it’s that it trains you to exploit yourself.

Think about it.

1. TikTok’s algorithm decides what’s trending.

2. Users mimic trends to stay relevant.

3. The algorithm amplifies those who comply.

4. Anyone who deviates from the norm is shadowbanned, suppressed, or drowned out.

Over time, this creates a closed feedback loop where cloudalists control what’s popular, what’s true, and what disappears.

And when platforms control discourse, they control reality.

Take the TikTok ban. The official justification was national security. But if you look deeper, it was never about that. It was a power move—an effort to remove a foreign-owned competitor and ensure that control over public discourse remained in the hands of American cloudalists. Because at the end of the day, whoever owns the algorithm owns the narrative.

This isn’t a free market. It’s a digital dictatorship, ruled by unelected billionaires who decide what you see, what you think, and what you buy.

And unless we break free, the chains will only tighten.

But there is a way out. A shift to decentralized platforms could dismantle this system entirely. And the best part? It doesn’t take a mass movement—just enough people making the right moves at the right time.

Let’s talk about how we start that revolution.

The Human Cost of Living in the Cloud

The problem isn’t just that a handful of tech giants own the platforms we use. It’s that they own us. They own what we see, what we think, and how we interact with the world. And they’ve done it so seamlessly that most people don’t even realize they’ve been turned into digital serfs.

But once you start pulling at the threads, it becomes impossible to unsee.

Who Controls the Algorithm Controls Reality

When governments censor speech, it’s obvious. When platforms do it? It’s buried under an “error loading post” message, a shadowban, or an invisible tweak to the algorithm that ensures certain voices never reach an audience.

This isn’t hypothetical. It’s happening right now.

Look at the TikTok ban. The official excuse was national security, but that’s just a smokescreen. If the U.S. government actually cared about data privacy, they’d be going after Meta and Google with the same energy. They’d be banning data brokers who sell location histories to the highest bidder. But they don’t—because this was never about security. It was about control.

TikTok isn’t just a video app. It’s a rival algorithm. A competitor in the war for attention. And Meta, Google, and the U.S. government don’t like competition. They want to decide which narratives get amplified, which movements gain traction, and which disappear into the digital void.

This is the new battleground for power. Whoever owns the algorithm owns the culture.

The Internet Isn’t Free—You’re Just Not the One Getting Paid

Social media companies love to talk about how their platforms are “free” to use. But nothing is free. You’re just not the one collecting the paycheck.

Meta made $116 billion last year. Google raked in $280 billion. Almost all of that comes from one thing: selling access to you. Your habits, your fears, your desires—all meticulously tracked, packaged, and auctioned off to advertisers.

Think about what that means.

Every time you type a Google search, it’s logged. Every time you pause on an Instagram post, it’s noted. Every time you engage with a tweet, that’s another data point used to refine the algorithm that shapes your reality. And then that data gets fed into machine learning models that predict—and manipulate—what you’ll do next.

The platforms don’t just observe your behavior. They nudge it. Guide it. Engineer it.

This is why small businesses are dying. It’s not just because Amazon undercuts them—it’s because they literally can’t exist without paying tribute to cloudalists. Want people to find your shop? Pay Google for ads. Want your Instagram followers to actually see your posts? Pay Meta for reach.

And if you refuse? You disappear.

The Psychological War for Your Attention

The economic side of cloudalism is devastating, but the psychological side is even worse. These platforms aren’t just selling ads. They’re training people—reprogramming them to be more predictable, more addicted, more manipulatable.

Instagram has turned social validation into a slot machine.
TikTok has weaponized FOMO, making every refresh a gamble for dopamine.
LinkedIn has turned career anxiety into a 24/7 performance contest.

These aren’t accidents. This is the business model. The more anxious, outraged, and addicted you are, the longer you stay. The longer you stay, the more data they extract. And the more data they extract, the more precisely they can shape your behavior.

And the worst part? People think they’re making their own choices.

Can You Even Opt Out?

You might think, Okay, so I’ll just delete my social media accounts.

Good luck. Even if you stop using these platforms, they still have your data. Every past search, every old post, every interaction you’ve ever had—it’s all stored, analyzed, and monetized indefinitely.

And it doesn’t stop there.

• Stop using Facebook? They still track you across the web through embedded pixels.

• Delete Google? Your friends, your workplace, and half the services you rely on still feed them data.

• Never signed up for TikTok? Doesn’t matter—if someone in your contact list did, they probably handed over your number.

This isn’t just surveillance capitalism. This is command capitalism—a system where the economy itself is shaped by algorithmic landlords who extract wealth and power from everyone, even if they never opted in.

What If There Was Another Way?

What if we didn’t have to rely on corporate-owned platforms?

What if the spaces where we interact, create, and share were owned by the people who use them?

What if the internet worked like a digital commons—where users controlled their own data, communities set their own rules, and algorithms weren’t designed to manipulate but to serve?

That’s the next step. That’s the solarpunk future. But to get there, we have to dismantle cloudalism from the ground up.

And that starts with decentralization.

Decentralization as Digital Sabotage

How I Escaped the Algorithm—and What I Learned

Back in 2017, I got into crypto. Not because I wanted to get rich off meme coins or hype-driven scams, but because I saw a way out.

At the time, blockchain technology wasn’t dominated by the worst people imaginable. It was still a frontier—one that promised an internet where people actually owned their data, where platforms were governed by their users, and where power wasn’t concentrated in the hands of a few corporate overlords.

I started working on blockchain projects, even pursued a PhD in the field before realizing that academia was never going to be the place where this technology could actually make a difference. I saw firsthand how decentralization could dismantle the stranglehold of cloudalists. And I also saw how the same forces that ruined everything else—the tech bros, the venture capitalists, the billionaire class—were already corrupting it, turning it into yet another speculative casino.

But here’s what they don’t want you to know: the technology itself is still sound. The tools to break their grip are right in front of us. And if we use them the right way, we don’t compete with them—we replace them.

How Blockchain Shifts Power from the Few to the Many

Right now, everything online is controlled from the top down. Platforms like Meta, Google, and TikTok are privately owned, and the people running them decide the rules. They decide what content is seen, who makes money, and who gets erased. They extract wealth from businesses, creators, and users, all while giving nothing back.

Blockchain flips that model entirely.

Instead of a single company owning a platform, blockchain-based networks are distributed. This means the rules aren’t dictated by a boardroom in Silicon Valley—they’re baked into the system itself. Ownership is spread among the people who actually use the platform, and decisions are made transparently, without some CEO pulling strings behind the scenes.

This changes everything.

1. Data Ownership Becomes Personal, Not Corporate
   On a blockchain-based internet, your data belongs to you. There’s no central authority collecting and selling it because the network itself doesn’t need to track you to survive. Unlike traditional platforms that thrive on surveillance, decentralized networks don’t rely on data exploitation to function.

2. No More Middlemen Taking a Cut
   Right now, if you sell a product online, Amazon takes a cut. If you post content, YouTube takes a cut. If you advertise, Facebook takes a cut. Every part of the internet has been turned into a toll road, where billionaires act as gatekeepers and extract profits from people doing real work.

   Blockchain eliminates these middlemen. A decentralized marketplace doesn’t need Amazon skimming 30% off the top. A blockchain-based social network doesn’t throttle your reach until you pay for ads. Transactions happen directly between users, and creators actually keep what they earn.

3. Platforms Become Community-Owned and Self-Sustaining
   Instead of being at the mercy of shareholders who only care about stock prices, blockchain networks are built to be self-governing. Communities decide the rules. Revenue gets distributed to the people actually creating value—not executives, not advertisers, not data brokers.

   Imagine a version of YouTube where creators own the platform, where ad revenue goes directly to the people making content instead of disappearing into corporate pockets. Imagine an Uber where drivers actually control the system, where riders pay drivers directly instead of some app taking 25% for doing nothing. That’s what this technology enables.

4. Censorship No Longer Serves Corporate Interests
   Right now, platforms decide what gets seen based on what benefits them. If a narrative threatens their bottom line, they can suppress it. If a creator gets too big outside of their monetization model, they can silence them.

   Blockchain makes that impossible. Since no single entity owns the system, no one can arbitrarily erase content, cut off payment flows, or manipulate visibility for corporate gain. Instead of tech giants deciding what’s “allowed,” communities set their own standards.

How This Steals Market Share from Billionaires

None of this works if only a handful of people participate. But when enough users migrate away from centralized platforms, the entire business model of cloudalists starts to collapse.

• Every person who stops using Facebook and moves to a decentralized alternative removes a data point from Meta’s ad revenue system.

• Every creator who leaves YouTube for a community-owned video platform takes viewership—and ad dollars—away from Google.

• Every seller who stops using Amazon and switches to a peer-to-peer marketplace keeps profits in their own pocket instead of handing a cut to Bezos.

The more people opt out, the more these companies bleed money. The more money they lose, the weaker they become. Eventually, their dominance crumbles—not because we’re fighting them, but because we’re making them irrelevant.

This isn’t about asking them to change. It’s about making them obsolete.

The Solarpunk Endgame: Reclaiming the Digital Future

The goal isn’t just to leave centralized platforms. The goal is to replace them with something better. A system where:

• Social media isn’t controlled by a billionaire but owned by its users.

• Digital marketplaces don’t siphon profits from creators but allow them to keep everything they earn.

• AI tools aren’t designed to extract data but to work locally, on personal devices, without feeding a corporate surveillance machine.

This is the future blockchain enables. It lets us keep the best parts of modern technology—the speed, the connectivity, the efficiency—while cutting out the predatory middlemen who exist solely to extract wealth and power.

The internet doesn’t have to be a corporate-run dystopia. We can build something that actually works for people. We just have to choose it.

The Revolution Starts Now

Tech overlords want you to believe resistance is futile. That their control is inevitable. That we need them.

We don’t.

Every move away from their platforms weakens them. Every time you choose an alternative, you’re not just protecting your own privacy—you’re helping build a system that takes their power away.

And you don’t have to quit everything overnight. Just start somewhere.

• Swap Google Search for Brave.

• Replace Twitter with Mastodon.

• Stop using Instagram and try Pixelfed.

Each small step is another crack in the foundation of their empire. And when enough people take those steps? The whole thing collapses under its own weight.

The internet doesn’t belong to them. It belongs to us.

So what’s your move?

Stay Curious,

Addie LaMarr