In paper newspapers this is the norm. You can read the front page for free, have to pay to get the rest, and the rest is still filled with ads. The difference

In paper newspapers this is the norm. You can read the front page for free, have to pay to get the rest, and the rest is still filled with ads. The difference is the tracking. I don’t think ads are really the problem. It’s the tracking that bloats pages and intrudes on privacy, and the tracking doesn’t need to be there because other media have ads without tracking and manage just fine. There’s a race to the bottom here. Tracking earns more revenue, so to be competitive you have to do it. Most sites won’t stop tracking until forced to by either the basic infrastructure of the web or legal requirements. I hope GDPR will lead to the disappearance of tracking, but so far most sites seem to pretend tracking is compatible with GDPR.