Could paying for online services and content actually improve the internet?
The internet is changing: until now most people have assumed that content and services should be free; but the signs are that we’re going to have to get used to paying subscriptions for the good stuff.
Not all services are created equal: I’ve been turning down the opportunity for a YouTube subscription on a regular basis for some time, but I gladly accepted Elon Musk’s X paid verification as soon as it was offered (I was already verified before that), and I would receive favorably the idea of paying a subscription to access the service. The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post or The New York Times are newspapers that have been very successful at this game for some time now. The idea is to charge all users for access to the platform. As for TikTok and Meta, I think I can hold out for the time being.
TikTok is offering users a $4.99 monthly subscription for an advertising-free experience, while Meta, which already launched a copy of the payment for verification on Facebook and Instagram last March, is now considering charging its European users $14 per month in exchange for being able to use these same social networks without seeing ads whose personalization and lack of respect for privacy was generating all kinds of problems with regulators.
