I've also been thinking about something like this modeled something like a mutual fund. I actually don't think people have an issue with the ads as much as the

I've also been thinking about something like this modeled something like a mutual fund. I actually don't think people have an issue with the ads as much as they have an issue with the lack of transparency & control over the information that's "leaked" by interacting with the ads. The approach I've been tinkering with is: - User data is held in a trust with independent trustees (like a mutual fund complex) who oversee and set limits on how the platform company uses the data for advertising. - Users can "withdrawal" their data at any time. - Instead of micro-targeting individual users advertisements would be sold to groups (like a mutual fund) based on anonymized data from the users who choose to join that group. - Users could "invest" in a particular group by joining groups that reflect their interests and creating content/posts in those groups. Daily up votes would represent the creators "share" of the advertising proceeds to that group (like dividends) so good content is rewarded. - Development/maintenance would be paid by a flat % of advertising revenue taken off the top before the "profits" are distributed to "shareholders."