[Steuard]

I took two points from this part of the article. First, that the expected exchange for years was "users create content, the companies provide the platforms and show ads to pay for it". But over time, the companies have not just adopted new ways of profiting off of the users (which may feel more exploitative than simple advertising) but also reduced the functionality of the platforms.

And second, that if there are vast amounts of money to be made off of all this activity, it's fundamentally not just for all of that money to go to the people who run the infrastructure, rather than some of it also going to the people who create and moderate the communities that make the infrastructure worth money at all.

If most of the money flowing in to a company like Reddit went directly toward improving the user experience, then maybe the original deal that "the platform itself is your reward" would still be fine. But as soon as there are executives and investors getting big cash payouts, that means that a whole lot of user-created value is being siphoned off: the deal doesn't feel nearly as fair anymore.