Google’s founders reluctantly accepted advertising only as an economic necessity

Evidence

To the purist, few things are smellier than advertising, and once you step in it, there is no easy way to fully wipe it off. Yet the time had come when Google had to show it could make money somehow. As pure as they were, Page and Brin also admired efficacy. Neither much respected idealists who never got anything done, the high-minded academics and programmers whose eyes and ideas never saw daylight. Google had come too far to founder on its own ideals. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 884

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader history of platform companies compromising ideals under monetization pressure, similar to earlier chapters on broadcasters and ‘eyeballs’ sales. — connects to: Google’s refusal to allow opt-out reflects its extractive economics, not mere product choice — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 483; Fear of financial obscurity drove Google founders to abandon founding principles — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 264; Google’s founders initially opposed advertising as inherently biasing search toward advertisers — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 220 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Google’s founders’ distaste for ads produced the least intrusive ad model ever built #expands (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 892