That's only half of the analysis, and suffers for it. Compare pre-internet print news; also almost entirely dependent on ads, and yet having delivered immense s

That's only half of the analysis, and suffers for it. Compare pre-internet print news; also almost entirely dependent on ads, and yet having delivered immense societal value. The other half of the analysis is that Facebook can only make money on ads if they have users on the site, and can keep them there. They need to provide persistent value to users to keep them on the site long term, and that aligns their incentives with users (not exclusively, but significantly).