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The Agentic Web and Original Sin – Stratechery by Ben Thompson

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I have come to believe that advertising is the original sin of the web. The fallen state of our Internet is a direct, if unintentional, consequence of choosing advertising as the default model to support online content and services. Through successive rounds of innovation and investor storytime, we’ve trained Internet users to expect that everything they say and do online will be aggregated into profiles (which they cannot review, challenge, or change) that shape both what ads and what content they see. Outrage over experimental manipulation of these profiles by social networks and dating companies has led to heated debates amongst the technologically savvy, but hasn’t shrunk the user bases of these services, as users now accept that this sort of manipulation is an integral part of the online experience. Marc Andreessen, who was there when the web was born, explained in a 2019 podcast why this sin was committed (this quote is lightly edited for clarity): One would think the most obviou

The Agentic Web and Original Sin – Stratechery by Ben Thompson Skip to content The Agentic Web and Original Sin Tuesday, May 20, 2025 Listen to Podcast Watch on YouTube Listen to this post : Log in to listen Ethan Zuckerman wrote in The Atlantic in 2014: I have come to believe that advertising is the original sin of the web. The fallen state of our Internet is a direct, if unintentional, consequence of choosing advertising as the default model to support online content and services. Through successive rounds of innovation and investor storytime, we’ve trained Internet users to expect tha

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