The harvesting of data without explicit permission, foreign state interference, and voter manipulation scandals have bombarded headlines this year. Tokenaire takes a different path.

At the end of day, social media companies have profit obligations and need a business model that incorporates keeping it “free” to users. But this structure inevitably creates a conflict on interest between free users of the platform, and profit-motivated owners of the platform. Exploitation must necessarily happen in some way, shape, or form for the company to remain a viable corporate entity. But are there alternative business models that could replace it?

During a recent seminar, Damian Tambini, author of Digital Dominance: The Power of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple and Jamie Bartlett, author of The People vs. Tech: How the Internet is Killing Democracy debated the hidden price we pay for the privilege of free services on the internet. Is free to use worth the mass collection of personal data gone entirely unchecked? They then go on to assert that if we were all willing to pay a small price, we could build a far superior platform that didn’t perform underhanded actions behind our backs. The key is that we need to be willing to pay for it — this is what breaks the chains around the current business model.