Ask HN: Why isn't there a paid alternative to Facebook?

This is HN, and we have all read about the evil walled garden, and how the users become a product, and privacy concerns about ads. So, I'm wondering why isn't there a sane alternative to Facebook that doesn't use a different monetizing strategy? Like creating a freemium platform where, they make money by selling space for high res photos and videos, letting them run a managed blog, etc..

Is the network effect that hard to beat?