>Of course, everyone loves getting services for free, but what adtech companies are getting in exchange for user data now is worth much more than the "free" services they offer. They should be paying us instead.
This solution is backwards; people should not only create content for you, but they should pay you for the privilege of having you enjoy it?
It wasn't ads that killed journalism; it was the proliferation of free content that killed the funding for any kind of meaningful journalism. BAT isn't the right direction; they just tack on a crypto grift to make other people rich. I'd argue services like Netflix and Disney+ are the type of business models that work without ads, its just that people dont want to pay for content.
> people should not only create content for you, but they should pay you for the privilege of having you enjoy it?
I was specifically referring to "free" services from the likes of Google and Meta. The value they extract from user data is worth much more than the value users are getting from their services. Tech companies paying users isn't a novel idea[1].
For content providers I'm arguing that there should be new business models they can rely on that doesn't detract from the user experience. Patreon is also a good alternative.
> BAT isn't the right direction; they just tack on a crypto grift to make other people rich.
That's the cynical take, and, sure, I don't trust Brave Inc. either. That said, funding a crypto wallet from which I can selectively pay for the content I consume is a sound model, even if this specific implementation isn't ideal.
> I'd argue services like Netflix and Disney+ are the type of business models that work without ads, its just that people dont want to pay for content.
People are definitely paying for it. For a short while there a few years back, there was probably a reduction in pirated content. But large studios got greedy, enforced region locking even more, the market split up into dozens of similar services, and now consumers are expected to subscribe to many different streaming services to access content, which is exactly what we were trying to escape from TV by cord cutting.
This solution is backwards; people should not only create content for you, but they should pay you for the privilege of having you enjoy it?
It wasn't ads that killed journalism; it was the proliferation of free content that killed the funding for any kind of meaningful journalism. BAT isn't the right direction; they just tack on a crypto grift to make other people rich. I'd argue services like Netflix and Disney+ are the type of business models that work without ads, its just that people dont want to pay for content.