The idea that some tech company is being benevolent by "giving you a platform for your community" while pocketing the ad money themselves to supposedly "keep the servers running"...
... really isn't any meaningfully different from the myth that employers are benevolent by "giving you a job" and you should be glad to have it, when in reality it's *your* labour that sustains them.
The 'platform economy', especially where it involves people voluntarily creating media and content on those platforms, is just the same old worker exploitation with a new coat of paint.
If it were truly about 'supporting communities', then the platform wouldn't be run by a for-profit company.
@sharan I was originally motivated to post this by the thing about Fandom and their treatment of volunteers, but the same thing applies to platforms like Reddit, YouTube, and also a lot of smaller, more niche platforms that I've seen over the years but that don't come to mind immediately.
@joepie91 I mainly agree. What platform did you have in mind?