This seems like a perfect case study of what happens when the actual business, farming eyeballs to sell ads, is at odds with the customer and the core product

This seems like a perfect case study of what happens when the actual business, farming eyeballs to sell ads, is at odds with the customer and the core product and enshittification, the act of implementing customer-observable cost cutting and hoping the brand carries you. Clearly a deadly combination as you knocked out both pillars propping the company up. If you keep the quality up you can likely get away with your thumb on the ad button but if you drop the quality at the same time there's no value left.