The age of the à la carte internet

Media that were once free or easily accessible — including news websites, podcasts, TV shows and games — rushed to get behind paywalls during the pandemic. This accelerating trend is carving the internet into many niche audiences, Balkanizing our collective media diets. News publisher paywalls took off in 2020 and have seen sustained gains since; users are running into paywalls across a range of media, discovering they must now pay for content that was once free. Even podcasts, traditionally the most open and freely available media via RSS feeds, are moving behind paywalls. There's no clear consensus among experts about whether this fragmentation is a net good or bad for society, but some argue polarization will accelerate as like-minded consumers pay to read their favorite writers and it will be harder for content to escape that ecosystem. All things free remain hugely popular online, and many paywalled products offer some free portions. And online advertising, which supports free services, shows no sign of stopping its growth.  The creation of the internet's paid layer may never crowd out free alternatives, but it threatens to leave society with even fewer shared reference points.