Musk, Dorsey Make Fun of Newest Internet Buzzword

Two tech titans have teamed up to seemingly riff on the chosen name and latest buzzword for the next stage of the internet.

Coined “Web3,” the term is meant to explain the next iteration of the internet to come, presuming that we now live in Web 2.0, which can be understood as an age of communication and ecommerce through programs that are owned by major companies and internet organizations, like Meta, Twitter, Amazon, etc.

“At the most basic level, Web3 refers to a decentralized online ecosystem based on the blockchain,” Wired explains. “Platforms and apps built on Web3 won’t be owned by a central gatekeeper, but rather by users, who will earn their ownership stake by helping to develop and maintain those services.”

Naturally, the concept and naming thereof got a laugh out of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

Never one to shy away from expressing his opinion, Musk took to the Twitterverse to make a joke about the name.

“Has anyone seen web3? I can’t find it,” he wrote.

Dorsey chimed in with a cheeky response, saying “It’s somewhere between a and z.”

It’s somewhere between a and z

— jack (@jack) December 21, 2021

“m something something,” Musk muttered in reply.

The criticism of Web3 is that the internet won’t be decentralized at all but rather owned by major venture capitalists and their partners, something Dorsey openly pointed out in a follow-up tweet.

You don’t own “web3.”

The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label.

Know what you’re getting into…

— jack (@jack) December 21, 2021

“It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label,” he said. “Know what you’re getting into …”

Dorsey’s net worth as of Wednesday afternoon was $9.5 billion. Musk’s was $258.8 billion at the same time.