[charcircuit]

Blog spam sites are not expensive to host and they would just pivot to referral links. What it hurts are sites that generate user value and give it away for free by subsidizing it with ads.

[philistine]

Sure, the whole spam industry could just pivot to referral links, just like that.

Referral links are a terrible business, with even less money and at the same mercy of the oligarch next door.

Intrusive ads disappearing would be transformative and good for the web for a good long while.

[JohnFen]

> give it away for free by subsidizing it with ads.

If those ads are targeted, then they're not giving it away for free at all. They're just demanding a different currency.

[charcircuit]

It costs $0. Happy?