They did that to drive up short term ad revenue and it worked, and joy was in their greedy little hearts. They also did figure out that poisoning search results drives away users, and that search is kinda the fastest gateway drug to their entire ecosystem.
But they’re stuck. Fixing search would lower their ad revenue, and stock holders would kill them for that.
Also, the way SEO is gamed, it’s really hard to unenshittify the internet. It’s not just their ads, it’s everyone making fake bullshit that pulls the right levers to get to the top of a search.
They did that to drive up short term ad revenue and it worked, and joy was in their greedy little hearts. They also did figure out that poisoning search results drives away users, and that search is kinda the fastest gateway drug to their entire ecosystem.
But they’re stuck. Fixing search would lower their ad revenue, and stock holders would kill them for that.
Also, the way SEO is gamed, it’s really hard to unenshittify the internet. It’s not just their ads, it’s everyone making fake bullshit that pulls the right levers to get to the top of a search.