You can still speak online. But can anyone find you?

Open YouTube on a television and you may find yourself sitting through a 30-second ad you cannot skip. Google introduced that format this year. You can escape the interruptions, of course: YouTube Premium costs $159.99 a year.

The video is still free. But patience has become the price of admission, and relief now comes with a subscription.

Platforms that serve as gateways to speech wield extraordinary power of visibility. When that power is sold by the tier, free access begins to look like second-class access.

When Americans worry about tech freedom, they tend to think of censorship: demonetization, deplatforming, shadowbanning, and pressure from government officials. Those threats are real. But a quieter transformation is taking place. Platforms once celebrated for letting anyone participate are selling advantages in