$5 isn't THE number. It's a number that's meant to illustrate a monthly outlay on the order of a meal -- something big enough that it might not fall below the l

$5 isn't THE number. It's a number that's meant to illustrate a monthly outlay on the order of a meal -- something big enough that it might not fall below the level of consideration for some people (I can certainly remember when it was something I had to think about), but small enough that people with an income level that makes them food-secure can probably swing it. As for other places where 5 USD is a lot of money for reasons of currency and local economic conditions, they'd probably have their own markets and pricing on the order of a meal for a month of service. Any amount will always be a sacrifice compared to free, but given that "free" actually has a cost in terms of privacy, attention, and even baseline function of the tool, there's really no free lunch here, just the currency you want to pay in. Making it actual currency lines up certain incentives better. Even if it doesn't solve the problem among, say, food insecure.