Look, we can hate Twitter and Musk all we want, but (a) the headline is absurdly false and (b) charging small amounts from every user instead of having an ad-funded business is probably the most honest and fair way to have a healthy internet and I for one would welcome the change. If Twitter becomes paid-only and removes all advertising and tracking (that’s the the big if) it can find its way to become the only sustainable and (dare I say?) ethical social media network around.

I strongly believe that a lot of the decline in the quality of civic debate and the increasing polarization of our society is unhealthy and can be traced back to the point where online media started depending on “eyeballs” and advertisers. (Don’t believe me? Just check the headline and read the article, now see how it outright LIED in the headline to make you click). Every news media channel became more and more tabloid-like in a desperate attempt to keep their viewership numbers, quantity over quality became the norm and everything became a “market audience” segmented to perform well to specific editorial guidelines.

To have meaningful change and actual progress, we need to have a healthy media that is focused on pursuing the truth. The current landscape is just a popularity contest. If people are able to vote with their wallets and if they become more than just a number , the people holding the megaphones will win more by paying attention to us than by treating us as cattle who can be milked out.