She cites examples of Gmail introducing sponsored email; the social advertising tool Thunderclap, which won a Cannes Innovation Lion in 2013; and the wild success of the native advertising industry, which will boom to around $11 billion in 2017. According to Horsburgh, “each of these ‘cutting-edge’ innovations were techniques pioneered by the deep web.” Native advertising takes its cues from the “astro-turfing” used by China’s 50-cent party, where people were paid to post favorable comments on internet forums and comments section in order to sway opinion.
Ultimately, this is the risk of the deep web. “Your terrorists are our freedom fighters,” as Professor Walden puts it. In parts, it offers idealism, lightheartedness, and community. In others, it offers the illegal, the immoral, and the grotesque. Take the headline-grabbing example of Bitcoin, which has strong ties with the deep web: It was supposed to provide an alternative monetary system, but, at least at first, it mostly got attention because you could buy drugs with it.