A consortium of powerful newspaper group in USA has launched a scathing attack on a small startup saying its business plan ‘illegal’. On the other hand, the company believes that they are ethical and the problem lies at other hand.
Sometimes actions may not be justifiable despite being the right intent. Brave Browser is a great example. It tries to solve the problems in the current advertising system, but the choices it made do not seem to okay for the major stakeholder.
What is the current system? The Brave browser, initially known as Link Bubble, pays 15 percent of ad revenue to user, next 15% to another ad partner, 15 percent to browser developers and 55% to publishers. Prima facie, it looks a great model for everybody. It takes into account every stakeholder in the process.
However, a group of newspaper publishers are not at all happy with the Brave browser model and they are up in arms against this model comparing it with ‘theft’. The consortium of newspapers is very strong as it has New York Times, The Washington Post and other powerful papers.
However, Brave Browser team is not ready to buckle down and it’s of the view that it’s win-win deal for both users and publishers as they would get a higher percentage of ad revenue.
The browser’s ad-blocking system not only limits website’s own advertising, but it only limits third –party ads. Brave is of the view that ads are often obstructive and irritating and it can also be used to track people’s action. However, news publishers are
However, the grand coalition of 17 newspaper giants is not ready to subscribe this logic. They accuse that the ad-swapping model of the company is illegal and violates the copyright act. It’s tantamount to stealing articles and posting articles on other websites. They don’t think that payment in Bitcoin will compensate for native ads.
Brave CEO Brendan Eich opines: “the browser isn’t replacing publishers’ own ads, including any first-party ads that aren’t using third-party tracking. It’s trying to create a better ad network that actually pays more than third-party options.”
Brave management is also ready to talk with media organizations, but it has not slowed down the browser. It has released the developers’ version of the browser. In fact, the company is ready to fight privacy intrusion at any cost. Brave management is of the view that the news industry has been at the forefront of violating individual’s privacy.
