Platform incentive structures have shifted scam distribution from peripheral abuse to core revenue extraction since 2015

Diehl traces the transition from 1990s amateur web spaces funded outside commercial models to current architectures that detect insecurity at scale and route it to payment funnels. Primary evidence appears in documented patterns of referral economies where courses, coins, and supplements generate revenue only through continuous recruitment of new participants rather than satisfied end users. This matches observed FTC complaint volumes on investment and business-opportunity scams rising from 1.1 million reports in 2020 to 2.8 million in 2023.

Surveillance-capitalism literature supplies the missing mechanism: Zuboff (2019) shows extraction of behavioral surplus for prediction products, while Lanier (2018) quantifies attention capture that converts emotional states into transaction opportunities. Diehl's account understates the regulatory lag; no US federal rule yet requires disclosure of affiliate compensation depth or platform revenue share from such chains, allowing the structure to scale without friction.

Operationally this produces measurable downstream effects: ordinary users now function as unpaid distribution nodes, with platform algorithms rewarding volume of promotion over accuracy. Resulting trust erosion appears in repeated surveys showing declining confidence in digital financial tools and social platforms. Enforcement actions remain limited to individual operators rather than incentive redesign at the infrastructure layer.

Next regulatory moves will likely target disclosure mandates on referral compensation rather than content removal, following the pattern of EU Digital Services Act transparency requirements now entering enforcement phase.