What's the mindset behind forcing a user to create an account to view the media on a page? For example an artist I like posts their art on Instagram and Twitter but I can't look at it unless I create an account. What's the dumb corporate rationale behind this? I have seen this on so many sites you can't even see what's there without an account? Doesn't it just scare users away? I know it certainly does for me. If I have to log in just to view a page I don't want to view the page.
Account registrations are one of the top-line key performance metrics these companies show to their investors to demonstrate they are growing. The day people stop signing up for these websites is the day people stop investing, and then they are in deep fucking shit. They juice these numbers any way they can. Dark patterns like this, lax enforcement against bots, etc. When the well of posters dries up, they have no choice but to squeeze the lurkers.