Paywall Bypass Site 12ft.io Shut Down by News/Media Alliance

The News/Media Alliance successfully pressured the web host to take down 12ft.io, a website that allowed users to bypass online paywalls. The alliance argued that 12ft.io offered illegal circumvention technology, harming the business model of news publishers. This action sparks debate on paywalls, internet openness, and the impact of AI search on the news industry, highlighting the struggles of news publishers to find sustainable models in the digital age. The site's creator initially built it to counter paywalled research results, ironically later implementing a subscription model himself.