We are at the end of the "free lunch" era of tech. Before, there was a lot of investment in tech because it was very easy for rich people to get loans, and sink it into tech companies or startups. With inflation at its high pace, banks failing, (esp. CV bank for our case) and the hike of interest rates, many tech companies are trying to make up the loss of revenue in anyway they can. Either by cutting staff and laying off people, or squeezing every dime out of every customer they can.
Before it was just accepted that some users would not monetarily engage with a platform, either by just lurking, blocking ads, mooching off a friend's account, or never buying any of the monetary perks being offered. Now they are doing their best to apply pressure to these people. Either they will go away entirely, and not expend anymore of the company's resources, or they will cave and put some money into the system by making purchases and consuming ads.
This has been growing trend since late last year, but this year in particular has caught many tech companies with their pants down. The days of burning free money for tech are over, and they are trying to scrounge together cash by any means necessary.
Stormy404
Stopkilling0