paywall

Also known as subscription required, closed access, paid access, fee required

thumb|upright=1.3|Mock-up of a "hard" paywall on a fictional news website

Wikidata facts

Image: Paywall Example.svg

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native label: paywall
hashtag: paywalled
Commons category: Paywall
short name: péage

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via Wikidata · CC0

~31 min read

Article

22 sections

Contents

History
Types
"Hard" paywalls
"Soft" paywalls
Combination
Cookie paywall
Reception
Industry
Reader
Ethical implications
Deterioration of the online public sphere
Paying to stay informed
Counter strategies
Newspapers disabling the paywall
New revenue initiatives
Alternative revenue initiative: API
Readers bypassing paywalls{{anchor|Circumvention}}
Legal implications of bypassing paywalls
Abandoned paywall initiatives
See also
References
Further reading

thumb|upright=1.3|Mock-up of a "hard" paywall on a fictional news website

A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of decline in paid print readership and advertising revenue, partly due to the use of ad blockers. In academics, research papers are often subject to a paywall and are available via academic libraries that subscribe.