this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2026
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awesome, then we can remove all the ads, no? because bots don't purchase things, no?
A lot of sites wouldn't exist without ads, because they want their stuff to be freely-accessible and don't have any other revenue streams. It would also cut off lower income people that couldn't afford to pay.
The only business models that have really worked online have been:
If ads go away, a lot of sites/services would have to become paid services, and smaller ones might just shut down entirely. We'd end up with even more consolidation of the market.
I think donation/investment based freemium is the future of internet content once the bots kill ad viability
I've tried that before, but barely anyone donates. People expect the world for free.
Once something is perceived as free as the internet has been for ever. It is very hard to get people to pay for it.
I think people will eventually have to get used to paying for things though, if bots / AI / ad blockers kill off the feasibility of online advertising. Either that or everything becoming a freemium service with major limits for free users.