""How does a brand show up in somebody's DMs or Discord server if they're not invited?" Haberman said. But in many ways, that's the point. People can still go on Instagram to check on their favorite celebrities and influencers, but young people don't want brands and marketers infiltrating the closed communities where they spend most of their time."
For some reason, it takes people a long time to figure this out. There is no room for advertising in peer-to-peer networks which is the OG design for the internet. I have been experimenting with running private L2 overlay networks since 2008, pre-Wireguard. The networks are small, managaeable, there are no strangers, no large audiences. If marketers, advertisers and so-called "tech" companies want to try to hack into each and every one of these private networks, then let them. It will be a ton of effort to do on a mass scale, and for little reward. If they are caught I think we can sue them.
The open web, walled gardens and "app stores" will always be around for marketers, advertisers and so-called "tech" companies. If anyone wants to communicate person to person or person to small group through a third party's website/server, say, "Mark Zuckerberg" or some other person they don't know, they certainly can. Unless it's HN, advertisers, "creators" and "influencers" will all be there.