> Ads are always separate and clearly labeled.
Indeed. Let's look at Google's launch of Adwords in October 2000:
> Google’s quick-loading AdWords text ads appear to the right of the Google search results and are highlighted as sponsored links, clearly separate from the search results.
https://googlepress.blogspot.com/2000/10/google-launches-sel...
Things evolved from there, and that's likely here, as well, I think.
The enshitificstion begins.
The only saving grace is the promise to have an ad-free tier.
If something is valuable to you, paying for it to not have ads is very reasonable.
Fixed that for you, and I agree fully with that assessment.
I don't think degradation or decay capture this...those are more associated with a process in nature, or due to the laws of physics, but especially something unintentional (like "bit rot").
I like Cory Doctorow, so I might be a bit biased here. Would be interested in alternatives that capture the intentional aspect.