[Nextgrid]

The problem is that in a lot of cases, technology shifted from a model where it solves a problem and the user pays for it to a model where it's either an ad delivery mechanism and the advertiser pays for access to the user's eyeballs, or a future ad delivery mechanism currently funded by VC money but that will in the future turn into the former.

Even paid products that you'd think would have nothing to do with ads are affected, as there's still someone on the inside whose salary depends on increasing "engagement", I guess since anything could eventually be turned into an ad delivery mechanism and they're keeping their options open.