Towards An Ad-Free Web: Diversifying The Online Economy

Towards An Ad-Free Web: Diversifying The Online Economy
The founding principles of the World Wide Web have been warped by years of over-reliance on advertising. Fixing that imbalance and moving toward a more ethical, open web means relaying the foundations, with sites showing other ways are possible.

Money talks, and there is an awful lot of money on the web these days. That is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but it does seem to have hamstrung how websites are designed and financed. The pandemic — and the consequent collapse of an already warped online ad ecosystem — makes it all the clearer that the web needs to diversify the way it makes money, and who it ultimately serves.

State Of The Web

The Internet is not in the best shape right now. Back in 2017, the founder of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, said:

“The system is failing. The way ad revenue works with clickbait is not fulfilling the goal of helping humanity promote truth and democracy.”

I think it’s safe to say things have largely gotten worse since then. Ads everywhere, tracking run amok, clickbait, misinformation, net neutrality under siege… engagement is king — more important than nuance, ethics, or truth — because that’s where the money is. The average user sees thousands of ads per day. The World Wide Web isn’t exactly humanity’s shining light right now, at a time when a whole lot of things are compounding our general sense of inescapable doom.

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