Why Will Platforms Drive the Launch of Web 3.0 Data Space?

Almost everyone who hears Tim Berners-Lee’s proposal to take data away from platforms and return it to people reacts the same way: Platforms won’t allow that! After all, why would Zuckerberg surrender data that generates billions in profit?

Surprisingly, platforms might not only relinquish data but do so willingly – because it could give them a competitive edge. Instead of being an obstacle, they could become the driving force behind the Web 3.0 Data Space. Unexpected? Let’s unpack this!

First Reaction: “Zuckerberg Will Never Agree!”

The fundamental concept of the Web 3.0 Data Space project (read more about W3DS in this article) is the separation of data and platforms. Users regain full control of their data, storing it in personal eVaults (Tim Berners-Lee calls them PODs), while platforms continue to offer their services. However, instead of holding our data internally, platforms access it remotely from our eVaults, process it, and return it there ensuring data@source principle.

This creates a new kind of competition among platforms for our data. A user could switch from Facebook to Instagram and then to LinkedIn several times a day, seeing the same posts and discussions but presented in different views on each platform.

Whenever this concept is shared, the reaction is almost always the same: “Zuckerberg won’t let you take the data!”

Indeed, if you simply ask Zuckerberg to hand over the data, he’s unlikely to agree. And even if you attempt to force it through legislation, the result might be just as unwieldy as what we’ve seen with GDPR and its meaningless “accept all” buttons.

But what if the question were framed slightly differently? The Mark’s answer might be entirely different.

Alright, but are there any other supporters?

The MBA’s Change Management theory suggests starting with a comparative analysis of the forces “for” and “against” to answer the question: “Will this change happen?”

When it comes to implementing the W3DS system, we’ve already established that major monopolistic platforms – Facebook, YouTube, SAP, and the others – are likely to resist.

But who would support it?

• Every other platform that hasn’t yet monopolized its market segment.
• Global citizens, especially those who’ve ever faced bans or restrictions on platforms like Facebook.
• Businesses that rely on platforms and services – for instance, hotels worldwide eager to escape Booking.com’s dominance and its ~20% margin.
• Governments, many of which find themselves overshadowed by companies like Google or Facebook.
• Experts, researchers, and universities, whose decades of knowledge and projects often end up controlled by corporations like Microsoft.
• And many others.

In summary, while a few hundred of the largest platforms may oppose the change, the rest of the world would welcome it. If that’s the case, Change Management theory tells us that such a shift is inevitable. That’s already a promising start.

But let’s explore the situation further.

Push Case: Platform Conversion with the Long Tail

Imagine launching the Web 3.0 Data Space at a large enterprise, like FIAT, which appreciated the W3DS promises (see the article “Why Businesses Need Data Space”). FIAT operates around 1,000 information systems for tasks ranging from warehouse management to booking meeting rooms. Switching all 1,000 systems to Web 3.0 Data Space at once isn’t necessary. A more practical approach would be to start with a smaller subset, perhaps just 10 platforms.

Here’s one method to select the initial platforms:

• Rank all systems by their importance to the business.
• Begin with the 10 least critical platforms for the transition to W3DS.

The logic behind this approach is simple: smaller platforms are generally easier and less costly to transition to W3DS. FIAT would likely be even willing to cover the expense of such a move.

Once the transition is complete, users of the initial 10 platforms will experience unique benefits specific to W3DS:

• The platforms’ interfaces and functionalities will remain exactly the same.
• Users will be able to log in to all these platforms using a single eID (and a key on their phone), eliminating the need for multiple usernames and passwords.
• Information updates made on one platform (e.g., entering a new phone number or an invoice) will automatically reflect on other platforms without manual re-entry and creation of dangerous data silos.

Users will quickly recognize the improved convenience of “implicitly interconnected platforms” and single user eID, sparking questions about why the rest of FIAT’s platforms haven’t yet been integrated with W3DS.

In response, FIAT’s management, encouraged by successful trials, will likely accelerate the transition of additional platforms – starting with Platform #11, then #12, and so on. As more platforms adopt W3DS, the benefits will become increasingly evident to larger paltforms (A, B and C in our picture), who will join the club without reminders from FIAT. While users will enjoy convinience, the FIAT management will appreciate the elimination of data silos and vendor lock-in, meaning less manual work, less mistakes and lower prices from major platforms.

Over time, users and the company will also begin exploring W3DS-specific features such as reputation management and intellectual property (IPR) control, further increasing its appeal. Within a few years (2–3), the majority of FIAT’s platforms could be fully integrated with W3DS. Simultaneously, FIAT’s partners may begin pressuring their own platforms to make the switch as well.

This is a feasible scenario, but it assumes that FIAT will actively PUSH platforms to transition to W3DS.

However, is it possible to imagine a situation where platforms switch to W3DS on their own, without any pressure from clients?

Pull Case: The ECCCH Case Study

In 2023, the European Commission announced a €110M grant to create the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH). Our Post-Platforms Foundation decided to participate and brought together a consortium of 30 organizations ready to implement a Web 3.0 Data Space for cultural heritage.

As an experiment, we decided to gauge the willingness of the largest industry platforms to adopt W3DS as part of this project. We weren’t sure if major platforms would be ready to relinquish their monopolies.

In the domain of museum collection management, Europe’s largest platform is Axiell. We scheduled a meeting with them, fully expecting a resolute “NO WAY” in response.

However, during our discussion with their VP of Sales, it became clear that Axiell’s own vendor lock-in strategy posed a significant growth challenge. Museums, operating on a timeline of centuries, struggle to commit years to digitizing millions of artifacts when they face the risk that all their data could disappear if the platform ceases operations in 20-40 years. Under Axiell’s current Web 2.0 architecture, this issue remains unresolved.

We presented how W3DS addresses this problem naturally:

• Platform independence for museums: By storing their data in an eVault, museums are no longer tied to a single platform. If Axiell – or any other provider – leaves the market, the museum can easily migrate to another platform without losing its data.
• Cloud service independence for eVaults: The eVault itself can achieve long-term durability by maintaining redundancy across multiple cloud providers. For example, a museum could store is eVault on a primary provider (e.g., AWS) with synchronized backups on two additional providers.

This model ensures that museum data can be preserved for centuries. This compelling solution was what led Axiell to join our consortium in the end of the conversation.

This approach offered another key advantage for Axiell: seamless collaboration with complementary services. For instance, if a startup could translate all exhibit descriptions into 50 languages, it could do so directly on the eVault. The next day, Axiell would be able to display all exhibits in those 50 languages without any additional effort.

The lesson here is clear: major platforms are willing to transition to Web 3.0 Data Space if they recognize substantial strategic benefits.

Encouraged by this, we decided to test the same idea with another major player, this time in the library sector – ExLibris. The discussion followed a similar path to our conversation with Axiell and ended just as successfully: ExLibris joined as a partner for the library domain. They even admitted they had been considering a similar solution but found it difficult to implement due to the required coordination among multiple platforms.

Our third consortium partner was tmatic.travel, the world’s largest platform for audio guides in museums and cities. Their strategic benefit was clear: the ability to expand their audio tour services into adjacent markets without engaging in costly marketing battles with existing platforms in those segments.

By giving up their monopoly on data, major platforms can discover new benefits that may outweigh their desire to remain monopolists. Moreover, these platforms understand that the current monopolistic situation is unsustainable and that sooner or later, someone will take action to change it. As the saying goes, "If you can’t resist change, lead it!"

Anticipated Platforms’ Leadership in Driving Change

Perhaps it’s time to take the next step and ask ourselves: “Could there be a scenario where platforms take the lead in driving Change and transition the market themselves from Web 2.0 to the Web 3.0 Data Space?”

The answer is a resounding YES.

Let’s imagine how this might unfold.

Such a shift is more likely to happen in markets where no single platform holds a monopolistic dominance – take the travel services market, for instance. Unlike the video content market (dominated by YouTube), the travel industry is fragmented, with hundreds or even thousands of Web 1.0 websites and Web 2.0 platforms. This fragmentation is inconvenient both for service providers, who must distribute their offerings across numerous platforms, and for consumers, who need to download dozens of apps and compare content within them.

The transformation could start by creating a consortium of about a dozen of platforms that agree to merge their data and customer bases into a shared pool of Web 3.0 Data Space . Each platform stands to gain the following:

• By contributing its data and customers, it accesses a pool that’s ten times larger, multiplying both its data and customer reach – all without costly marketing battles.
• It shifts the responsibility for data interoperability, user management, and security to the Web 3.0 Data Space ecosystem, cutting operational expenses.
• Through access to different types of data it can widen its services reaching synergies not imaginable before: e.g. the audioguide platform tmatic.travel may easily add hotel booking offerings, combining different services in a complete “travel itineraries”.

Let’s now explore the strategic advantage of a dozen-platform consortium compared to thousands of fragmented platforms.

The consortium presents a stronger value proposition for both service providers and travelers:

• For service providers: No need to upload and constantly update their data across numerous platforms.
• For travelers: No need to juggle multiple apps, as each app provides access to the same unified content.
• For consortium members: Marketing wars become a thing of the past, freeing up resources to focus on product improvements, giving them a competitive edge over non-member platforms.

As the consortium grows, its collective power surpasses that of any individual non-member platform. Competitors outside the consortium quickly realize that their only viable option is to join the Web 3.0 Data Space (W3DS) – a straightforward and accessible step.

Over time, more platforms are likely to join the Web 3.0 Data Space (W3DS), triggering a snowball effect. Within 3–5 years, the entire travel market could transition to W3DS.

Platforms Joining the Data Ownership Revolution

The Web 3.0 Data Space project seeks to return data ownership to the individuals and companies that create and own it, reclaiming it from platforms and services.

At first glance, platforms might seem opposed to this idea.

In reality, they may not only accept it but actively support the transition. This is especially feasible in markets without a dominant platform capable of blocking such a shift, for instance, in travel or real estate.

Once the first dozen of platforms come together, the rest will have little choice but to align with the leading consortium, setting off a powerful snowball effect.

Author: Alex Tourski, Founder and CEO of Post-Platforms Foundation

Explore the world of Web 3.0 Data Space in our library or here:

1. What is Web 3.0 Data Space? Data Sovereignty. No Data Silos. No Platform Monopolie
2. Why Europe Can’t See Its Own Data Elephant
3. Fixing Digital Economy with Web 3.0 Data Space
4. Why Businesses Need W3DS
5. The Story Of Registers
6. How Security will become a Service Booster (Completing Europe's eIDAS Revolution)
7. One Key to Rule All the Services
8. Wish List Fulfillment: The Inside-Out Internet Effect
9. The Backbone of Future Society: eReputation
10. Do I Actually Own My Data in POD/eVault?
11. Why Your Brain Outpaces Databases: Time to Rethink Information Storage
12. The Internet Frontier