Oops? Interdisciplinary Stories of Sociotechnical Error| Hole in the (Pay)Wall: Monetized Access, Content Leaks, and Community Responsibility

Abstract

Digital paywalls are jointly sustained by platform interfaces that block content from nonpaying users and by paying users who do not share the content they pay for. However, paywalls often fail when users circumvent interfaces and deliberately circulate material to nonpaying audiences. This paper focuses on the latter instance, providing two case studies of online communities sharing material beyond their paywalls. In examining user discourse surrounding content leaks, this article answers the following questions: Why do users breach paywalls and how do they justify such practices? Who or what is to “blame” for a paywall’s penetrability, and whose responsibility is it to resolve this “failure”? This study thus examines attitudes surrounding monetized access and highlights the precarity of risk and failure within online communities.