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Comment by loriverkutya | Hacker News Reader

Lies are not free, they are paid by ads and a complete industry is built on keeping this going. The price of the ads are built into the price of the product/service you buy, so we are basically paying for the lies too, it’s just not as obvious as paying to get through the paywall.

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Conspiracies are a never ending source for new ownable keywords and terminology, which combined with the "research it yourself mantra" only drives people deeper into the ecosystem of alternative book stores and prepper online shops etc. If people would know how the web works they'd be more sceptic about the media they encounter and their calls to action.

I think the meaning is pretty clear. Dishonest/misleading sources of information are intentionally designed to have a vary low barrier to entry, while trustworthy sources are forced to use off-putting paywalls due to the inherent higher cost of what they do. Hence the asymmetry.

They are free for consumers

They're free for the consumers of lies. They're paid for by the consumers of whatever product is buying the adverts.

No, you are getting paid for the lies and advertisements you see. You get paid with free apps.

Great point. You could say that the "lies" are propaganda, as much as the advertisement that they are the vehicle for. Inundated with this much propaganda, which points to the impotence of the individual, no wonder we're seeing so much mass unrest.

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