The internet will soon stop being free
Issue 652’s ‘Question of the Fortnight’ on Facebook charging to verify accounts made me wonder which other free services we take for granted might eventually require payment. The most obvious example is Google searches. Just imagine how much money it could make with a subscription that gave you a certain number of searches per year. Hit your limit by July? No problem – just pay more to get more!
Or maybe Google might introduce a membership fee that covers all their services. Without this you wouldn’t be able to use Gmail, Youtube or Google Drive. From there it’s a small step to launching Google Prime for premium versions.
I can easily predict Facebook’s strategy from now, which is to slowly run down its free service to make its paid-for tools seem more attractive. It’s an old business trick. Microsoft already does it by adding new tools to Microsoft 365 while neglecting the downloadable version of Office. Google also keeps its best tools for its paid-for Workplace.
This day was always coming – ever since companies like Facebook and Google chose advertising as their route to riches. I’ve long suspected that regulators would eventually catch up with this reckless exploitation of our data, leaving companies reliant on an advertising model they could no longer sustain.
I’ve read lots of news reports in recent weeks about how the rise of AI will transform the internet, but perhaps the truth is less dramatic. Maybe the real change coming down the line is the mass ending of free internet services. That sounds less exciting, but more likely.