[gpm]

Of course they have. Off the top of my head examples include: Grants in the form of tax dollars (e.g. arxiv). To benefit the authors reputation (e.g. numerous scientists, developers, etc personal sites. zacklabe.com as a useful example). As a hobby (I think aiarena.net falls into this category). To collect data for research purposes (e.g. the original chatgpt release, and early recaptcha)...

[raw_anon_1111]

What could possible go wrong with the government funding media? It’s not like they would take away funding for media that they don’t agree with.

[Eisenstein]

Why would a government elected in a democracy be less trustworthy than a few private individuals? Do heads of large corporations not have an interest in controlling information?

[thfuran]

PBS and BBC are both pretty well regarded and receive public funding.

[tcfhgj]

Works quite well in germany

[WarmWash]

I agree that there will always be people who believe the Internet peaked in 1996.

But I also agree it's when <1% of people where online, and it's never going back to that.