Can't believe the state of the internet these days, where every time you turn around, there's some new policy or update that's just stripping away more of our freedom to express ourselves online. like, what's the point of even having a platform if you're just gonna censor everything that doesn't fit the narrative? it's so frustrating, you know? feels like we're just slowly losing our grip on the one place where we're supposed to be able to say what we think without fear of reprisal. anyone else feel like this, or am i just being paranoid?

The more censorship and monitoring they enforce, the more they make me avoid mainstream sites and services and the more they make me spent less and less time on them or no time at all.

I think the paradigm is simple:
Websites are like houses and businesses. Each time you go to one you have to agree to something before you are allowed in. If I went to a Café/Bar where a lot of my friends meet, but I was subjected to the treatment OP describes, then most likely I would not return.
The internet is not dying.
The internet is not broken.
We are broken. Some beyond repair. The solutions are either to self-host or find websites you enjoy and are friendly towards your freedom. Google/Apple/Amazon/etc are just big flashy gates to a dark themepark/playground. They have the biggest banners and the catchiest jingles. They create problems where there are none and offer you a solution for that tailored problem.
People need to understand that companies are not STATE/GOVERNMENT.
Dependencies on them are non-binding.(Expect Germany. Can explain if asked)
Cyberix is yet another nice Café I found surfing the web and there are many many more.
I am glad platforms like Youtube, Twitter and whatnot are filled with garbage. At least I know what to avoid.

And in regards to online speech freedom I have this to say:
You are not free. You never were. Freedom nowadays is a temporary condition and rather limited. If we want true freedom we have to fight for it like our ancestors did. There are no explicit inherent rights. Powerful people will crush you like a bug as soon as you start to tickle a bit and the UK and Germany are very good examples of that. The solutions for this problem are really not clear because as far as I can see we have two choices:
1- Flood the prisons with "hate-speech" offenders AKA non-violent people to the point of system breakage.
2- Boycott all major social media websites and self-host/use a federated social media like Diaspora or something.

Like option number two. You can not just create account on someones Diaspora instance but you can federate your instance with others allowing users from both to share with each other. If the instance becomes toxic you can close the connection to the evil instance. This way we exert pure control over social media and can be a bit more anonymous. Let me see the UK police trying to find me in that scenario.

> like, what's the point of even having a platform if you're just gonna censor everything that doesn't fit the narrative?

What's the point of having power if you don't use it against your enemies?

Youtube is incredibly useful and entertaining, once the algorithm starts to understand your tastes. Amazon is also extremely convenient, there's some stuff that you just can't find in physical stores. Twitter can be good, depending on whom you follow.