Nah, the problem OP poses was also a major issue with TV ads, specially the kind of ads with that whole telemarketing, “buy now get 2 free, but wait there’s more, we’ll throw in these accessories all for” vibe. And radio, and magazines. A lot of snake oil and re-branded stuff was sold through it.

The real reason why accountability isn’t given to the platforms is because then the platforms would be less sustainable. And for the older media, that might have been fine still. But not so much the internet, which arguably, barely sustains itself on a gigantic ad-based bubble. It would be a death-throw for 99% of what we build and consume online. We just simply depend on ads THAT much.

I say they should try anyways. Absolutely. I do think the internet could benefit from having a lot more, smaller website, like before. We’re even popularizing the concept of interoperability again, like, man, we’re posting on Lemmy, a platform made to spread platforms. I think we’re closers to kill the ad dependency now than we ever been after the death of usenet.