Power and control over people's lives and public image is what they get off on, how can anyone feel like they have purpose working on that is beyond me, so it's true that innovation would be thwarted by procrastination - if they give them the "next big thing" it'll be monopolized and weaponized rather than given to the people like tcp/ip initially was. The key term is decentralization, and it's being blown up in favor of locked up datacenters behind layers of digital policing.