The more access to content becomes valuable, the greater the stakes in securing a
prominent role in the selection and distribution of content, especially in the online
environment. The presence of network externalities and centripetal forces on the internet,
coupled with a relatively favourable regulatory environment in many legal systems that
grants a menu of safe harbours to online intermediaries, has led many online intermediaries
to occupy a remarkably large space in the internet ecosystem. These new powerful players
have come to disrupt and also replace traditional publishers and content distributors as the
real intermediaries between content producers and consumers.