The Algorithm as I understand it (not the author) is essentially equivalent to the nature of the One Ring in Lord of the Rings. One can attempt to do good with it, but it ultimately twists motives to its own goals: using itself more.

The more time spent on the Internet looking for things you want, the more information you generate to enable the Algorithm to make things that you don't consciously know that you want--so long as you stay online.

These could be savior fantasies, delusory persecution complexes, social approval, lootbox-style dopamine mining, etc, but it reduces to the Internet providing what the user actually unconsciously wants in a hedonic escalation with the ultimate goal of keeping the user online. This transcends the usual "you are the product" rhetoric.

This isn't about for-profit dark patterns; this is about a non-fictional Infinite Jest taking over, with the warning that eventually the Algorithm will find your bespoke lever that you can't volitionally turn off or turn away from to keep you online in perpetuity.

I personally imagine this is similar to the nature of the conscious mind, so not unique to the Internet, but yeah.