MCP Is Speedrunning the Web 2.0 Story: Platforms Will Tighten Integration Gates
dbreunig · x · 2026-09-22
dbreunig argues the MCP boom is replaying Web 2.0. Back then every app published an API, but once network effects crowned winners, the drawbridges went up: simple APIs evolved into layered access controls and pricing tiers, tuned so you could support the platform but never compete with it—Twitter's 2012 cap of 100,000 users per third-party client being the classic example.
The dream of free data exchange collapsed into tightly governed one-way interfaces: posting and ad-buying APIs abound, while data-consumption APIs barely exist. The same narrative is already playing out with MCPs, since every platform prefers you use its own AI rather than grant external LLMs access.
Concrete signals cited: Amazon blocking Meta's Muse AI agent while amending its lawsuit against Perplexity's Comet browser, alleging Perplexity's own computers logged into Amazon with customer credentials—potentially contradicting statements to the appeals court.
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