Facebook made the internet a home for a billion people. Mr Rushkoff is certainly an important voice, but I&#x27;ll play devil&#x27;s advocate. We can never know the initial motives or future designs of Zuckerberg et al, nonetheless these actors have built products&#x2F;services that people demand. They have introduced advanced technology to vast swathes of people, familiarised them with computers, and drawn them into (the periphery of) hacker culture.<p>Hypothetically, more intelligent&#x2F;predictive advertising should decrease the quantity of ads we see, and work in the favour of local firms. AI (including predictive-advertising) has the potential for good. People want to support local businesses. With the introduction of localised &#x2F; native advertising, there is the potential for the business next door to &#x27;get you&#x27; as a customer, as opposed to Amazon etc. The &#x27;last mile&#x27; problem might work in the favour of small firms.