Comment by pembrook

The problem isn't that a news site is monetizing with a paywall. Totally fine, monetize how you want!

The problem is that prominent news orgs have lobbied governments all over the world to threaten google, apple, etc. for preferential treatment so these paywalled articles get prominent placement in various feeds and carousels and recommendation algos.

As a small publisher you'll never get this same preferential treatment if you throw up a paywall.

Creating the bizarre situation where big tech platforms feel they have to recommend paywalled articles from NYT/Bloomberg/etc, catfishing users right into a paywall when they click on headlines. This is essentially spam.