The announcement by CERN in 1993 to make the World Wide Web protocols free and available to everyone marked a pivotal moment in the evolution of the internet. Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist, developed the Web while working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. He initially created it as a tool to meet the rising demand for information sharing among physicists, particularly in the face of an increasing number of scientific articles. The decision to release the web protocols under a free license signaled an invitation for collaboration and innovation beyond the confines of CERN, enabling a host of applications and developments from developers and enterprises worldwide.

By ensuring that the protocols were accessible without cost, CERN significantly contributed to the democratization of the web. The protocols and standards, including HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), allowed software developers to create their web browsers, websites, and applications, fostering a rich ecosystem of content and services. This open-source philosophy proved instrumental in the rapid proliferation of the internet, leading to an era of information sharing and connectivity that has transformed societies and economies.

Several companies, universities, and individuals began to embrace these protocols, resulting in exponential growth in the number of websites and online services in the following years. With companies like Microsoft and Netscape entering the market, the landscape of internet usage matured, marking the beginning of the digital age. The frameworks laid by this decision fostered development that ultimately reshaped communication, commerce, education, and entertainment, resulting in the internet as we know it today.