&gt;  After you&#x27;ve paid these pennies, what is the incentive to not still show you ads or surveil you for commercial advantage?<p>The parent may have been saying that if we&#x27;d had micropayments earlier, the ad culture may never have arisen or gotten as bad.<p>However, I think there&#x27;s still a chance that micropayments could reduce ads. If it can result in a reasonable revenue stream, it might become advantageous to reduce ads and market that one&#x27;s website doesn&#x27;t track people with ads. That might further drive revenue.