Subprime Attention Crisis

Tim Hwang argues that online advertising, the business that pays for most of the internet, rests on a shaky foundation. Big tech companies treat human attention as an asset that can be bought, sold and traded, and Hwang questions whether that asset is worth what the market says it is.

He compares the situation to the housing crisis of 2008. Subprime mortgages were valued far above their real worth, and he contends that attention is being misrepresented in the same way. His evidence comes in three parts: the numbers that advertising platforms report cannot be fully trusted, automated bidding for ad space runs with little regulation, and most online ads simply fail to work.

The stakes are practical for anyone who goes online. If the advertising market collapses, the free services people rely on could disappear or become available only to those who can pay for them.

This is non-fiction about technology and the economy, written for general readers rather than specialists. It is a researched, argumentative examination with an alarmed tone, and it reads as a warning about where the internet is heading. The book is part of the FSG Originals x Logic collaboration, a set of four short books on the tech industry that aim for nuanced, accessible discussion over hype or gloom.