/file/attachments/2987/DayslastlightmeetscolourPhotographerDerekMaree_728552.jpg "Proof of Time Travel in 2026 Selfie Shock")
THEY ARE LOCKING YOUR MEMORIES BEHIND A PAYWALL. First Thing Media is DEMANDING payment from everyday South Africans just to share a photograph, turning community moments into a subscription-only fortress.
Your stunning sunset? Your child’s first steps? The wild landscape you captured? The publisher says, “You need to be a First Thing Subscriber.” Nothing gets in without a fee. This isn’t just guidelines—it’s a DIGITAL DIVIDE. They dangle the work of photographers like Daniel Polakow and Carole Lotz, showing the beauty they want, while SLAMMING THE DOOR on anyone who won’t pay up.
And here’s the trap: They take your high-resolution photos for FREE. They admit, “we don’t have money for your pics.” Yet they build their entire “Picture of the Day” section on your unpaid labor. They profit from your talent while you get nothing but a “portfolio link” if you’re lucky. They even CONTROL the supply, announcing, “We limit our weekly entries to maximum 20.” Twenty chosen ones, while the rest are told to “keep sending them in!” They are farming your hope.
Who benefits? The platform, forever. They get free, premium content that fills their pages and attracts eyes. Who stays silent? Everyone who doesn’t question why our shared visual history is being gatekept. They claim “you still hold all rights,” but they hold all the power and the keys.
This is how culture is quietly auctioned off, one “subscriber-only” submission at a time.
Edited for Kayitsi.com
Author: Kayitsi.com
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