All pb
From comments:
https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/3/23782607/social-web-public-apps-end-reddit-twitter-mastodon
While I feel like places like reddit and Twitter could have handled it differently, it all comes down to revenue. We are using these tools for FREE at the owners expense. In return, we are expected to view ads or videos or some other things to help support the site. However, many users of sites are using ad blockers, thus causing those sites not to get that revenue. Sites like reddit with those third party apps lose that revenue that way. YouTube is introducing the three strike policy soon to force users to stop using ad blockers, and I'm sure Facebook will follow soon too. Alot of users (me included) use ad blockers for Facebook because Facebook is infested with ads. I personally use the friendly plus app which blocks ads, sponsored posts, recommended posts, etc. But this means Facebook doesn't get revenue from me. Eventually if everyone does this these sites will have to battle to get that revenue. It kind of makes sense why this is happening.
The problem isn't ad blockers IMO. It is the fact that all these social media companies launched without a business model so they could build up a user base and then monetize it later. If the model was always going to be ads, they should have been up front with the users about that and put policies in place about ad blocking from the beginning. They were not honest or transparent about how they were going to make money. This is the result.
Moreover, the ad business is not about showing advertisements to people. No one would bother blocking that. It is about the theft of personal information and the near virus-like nature of tracking that is being disguised as ads. I am old enough to remember what advertising was. I sold ads once upon a time. What is being called advertising should be blocked. Antivirus and spyware blockers were made to stop this kind of stuff long before advertisers started using it.
If the industry was willing to go back to ads that are actually and only adds, I suspect people would not bother blocking it. Even the real ads are implemented in such a way that it becomes almost impossible to access the content. To heck if the content can be accessed as long as the ads get through. That is the kind of attitude that has made the current situation what it is today.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/3/23782607/social-web-public-apps-end-reddit-twitter-mastodon