From “Don’t be evil” to “Automatically generate evil”
How ad-revenue is the root of all evil
The nightmare videos of children’s Youtube
Most parents know the scene — kid is watching Youtube videos. Stuff like “suprise eggs” and “toy openings”. Seems harmless — compared to blood and gore and porn.
But, parents soon realize that its an addiction. Seeing your kid watching the same mind-numbing scenes like a zombie.
What is driving all this content? Ad revenue.
Journalism and credibility

There are now many many online sites whose sole purpose is to hook you with attractive pictures or titillating headlines — just so you visit the website. The actual content is usually meaningless or trivial.
What is driving all this content? Ad revenue.
TV ads

The quality of TV content is a direct mirror of how much revenue is the production receiving from advertisements on the mass medium. A survey of Indian daily soap scene should give a pretty good picture of this phenomenon.
What is driving all this content? Ad revenue.
What is at stake?
Trust.
We do not trust journalism anymore — even though most journalists are honest. The problem is the “ad-revenue” system has thrown up the possibility of ghost journalists — which can create titillating content to grab attention. Of course, this was also present in the pre-Internet world. The difference is the effort involved in doing this (has lowered dramatically) and the scale of reach (has increased dramatically).
Political systems are being corroded. A look at the US and Indian media, articles, posts on social media is a mirror of this phenomenon.
Time and Money
People value money and time very differently. We are very very careful when we have to spend money on content. but, we are much more easy-going and tolerant when its our time and attention which is demanded for content.
In this model, the quality of the content is held hostage. Time after time, it is seen that the quality of the content goes down. From being just harmlessly enjoyable or funny — it can be positively harmful, divisive and violent.
What to do?
Stop being the product. Proactively change what you read, listen and watch.
Pay.
Pay directly to the content creators — as much as possible. Buy books and subscribe to podcasts.
Do not consume what is freely dished out as content to you.
