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The Age of Extraction

How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity

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The Age of Extraction

By: Tim Wu
Narrated by: Frits Zernike
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The pre-eminent exponent of anti-monopoly law explains why we have no option but to break Big Tech’s monopolies, and that doing so would unleash innovation and growth.

Today’s dominant tech platforms – the places where we exchange information and buy things online – could be the most powerful engines of prosperity ever invented. Instead, they are the most effective instruments of wealth extraction ever created and a grave threat to our societies.

Here the pre-eminent exponent of anti-monopoly law Tim Wu, who coined the phrase ‘net neutrality’, explains why breaking Big Tech’s monopolies would unleash innovation and growth and is essential if we are to avoid further social division. In their place he sets out the five key ways in which future platforms should be managed to harness the extraordinary potential of these essential technologies and to help build the balanced economies we so badly need.

‘Wu deftly breaks down one of the greatest challenges of our age - the unaccountable power of tech platforms - into such digestible pieces that the solutions for what to do become dead obvious’ KAREN HAO, author of Empire of AI

'Tim Wu is a titan . . . a must-read' Financial Times

‘Tim Wu's readable, passionate call is for a fairer economy where the benefits of AI can be for all of us’ DARON ACEMOGLU, co-author of Why Nations Fail

*A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2025*

© Tim Wu 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Business Ethics Economic History Economics Politics & Government Workplace & Organisational Behavior Money Socialism Capitalism Economic Inequality
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Critic reviews

Tim Wu is a titan in the world of competition policy in digital markets … [His] record of insight, indeed prescience, makes his new book, The Age of Extraction, a must read
A manual to the oligarchic takeover of the internet as well as the broader economy that now depends upon it . . . [whose] proposed solutions for fixing the internet provide hope, not least because of how simple they are
The paradox of the platform: without middlemen, we’d all be stuck, but those same middlemen are forever working to declare themselves to be our bosses. Wu’s characteristically insightful book cuts to the core of these world-consuming, usurping enshittifiers, and tells us how to stop them (Cory Doctorow, author of Enshittification)
The magic of Tim Wu’s The Age of Extraction is its simplicity. Wu deftly breaks down one of the greatest challenges of our age - the unaccountable power of tech platforms - into such digestible pieces that the solutions for what to do become dead obvious. Essential reading for anyone looking for the recipe to rebalance the vast inequality in our society and to create a thriving economy that works for everyone (Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI)
Large tech companies are set to be the main beneficiaries of a new economy based on data and artificial intelligence. But neither the lopsided present of tech nor the future direction of technology is our destiny. Tim Wu's readable, passionate call is for a fairer economy where the benefits of AI can be for all of us, and he proposes principles, laws, and regulations about how to achieve this (Daron Acemoglu, co-author of Why Nations Fail)
Tim Wu’s The Age of Extraction is a how-to book on how we can achieve liberty once again. Wu describes why so much in our society feels unbalanced, that the convenience and scale of platforms masks a hidden creeping power over our lives and communities. But he also shows how platforms in one form or another have always been part of human society, and the key is to govern them properly (Matt Stoller, author of Goliath)
Tim Wu’s The Age of Extraction is a must-read. This is a book for anyone—from senator to student—who seeks to understand our digital economy and why we need common sense rules of the road. Wu shows us how to protect consumers, workers, small businesses, and even our democracy from dominant platforms that have inserted themselves into nearly every aspect of our lives (Senator Amy Klobuchar)
The Age of Extraction is remarkably astute and timely. Wu brilliantly analyzes platform power with great clarity, insight, and moral force, laying out the material stakes for people's lives as well as a roadmap for achieving broad prosperity and economic fairness. A vital book for these troubled times (Lina Khan, Former Chair, U.S. Federal Trade Commission)
An intelligent and useful guide (Jennifer Szalai)
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