I get the 'if you're not paying for the product, you are the product' line... But if you had to pay for social media, I think most people would simply do without. They may even be grateful for an excuse to be off social media.
Discussion
Social media is a product no one is willing to consume, but too addicted/habituated to leave.
Imo
This is why I think eg Elon /twitter will never make it mandatory for all accounts to pay. It would pretty much be the end of social media.
Again imo
Some people will pay for verification, monetisation, grok, additional upcoming features but I agree it would be a bad idea to force everyone to pay because there are too many other free options.
I think these would mostly be users with something to gain, the average user... I think if all social media required a payment verification would soon find they are not addicted at all. A slightly inconvenient payment hurdle will cure them of social media addiction rapidly. That is my guess.
