[Karunamon]

The sites that abuse clickbait generally post a lot of it. It's not like, say, PBS posts articles ending in "..you won't believe what happens next".

Wouldn't it be a net benefit if those sites closed down? It's not like there's much value being lost.

[NoGravitas]

You'd think so, but BuzzFeed publishes some really good original content, including investigative reporting, which is bankrolled by the truckloads of clickbait they shovel out.

[theseatoms]

Interesting. That sounds similar to how movie studios maximize profits on blockbusters in order to fund actually good movies (which often lose money).