WeAre8 Takes Aim at Big Tech’s Social Media Business Model, Saying It Needs to Be Redesigned From the Ground Up

WeAre8 Takes Aim at Big Tech’s Social Media Business Model, Saying It Needs to Be Redesigned From the Ground Up

London, United Kingdom — WeAre8 is challenging the business model that has defined social media for more than a decade, arguing that making platforms safer cannot be solved by adding another safety feature to an infrastructure designed to maximise engagement and extract value from people. The company says the entire system needs to be redesigned, from the way feeds and algorithms work to how content is discovered, how people are protected and, critically, how the billions generated by digital advertising are distributed. WeAre8 has spent the past decade building an alternative social and economic infrastructure designed around human connection, safety and shared value.

WeAre8 has spent 10 years developing this alternative, deliberately building and testing the technology, safety infrastructure, advertising model and economic ecosystem before scaling globally.

At the centre of the WeAre8 model is a fundamental change to the economics of social media. Rather than retaining advertising revenue within the platform, WeAre8 shares 75% of advertising revenue across its ecosystem, creating a model where people, creators, publishers and communities can participate in the value generated by their attention and engagement.

“I have spent 35 years in media and technology and have had a front-row seat to how billions of dollars move through the media ecosystem. I have seen where the system is broken, and I believe social media now needs fundamental change. We cannot simply put another safety layer over an infrastructure that was never designed around people. The feed, the algorithm, the ad delivery and the economics all need to be reimagined. That is what we have spent ten years building with WeAre8,” said Zoe Kalar, Founder and CEO of WeAre8


The problem is bigger than safety

For years, the conversation around social media has largely focused on how platforms can moderate harmful content, protect children and respond to online abuse. WeAre8 argues that these are essential, but they address symptoms of a much larger structural problem.

The underlying infrastructure of social media influences how people connect, what they discover, how long they stay and who ultimately captures the economic value created by that activity.

WeAre8 is designed to change what that value can do. By sharing advertising revenue across people, creators, communities and causes, everyday attention can be connected to outcomes far beyond the platform itself, including funding health, education, community and environmental initiatives.

One example is the potential impact on HIV prevention. Lenacapavir, a twice-yearly HIV prevention injection, demonstrates what becomes possible when millions of small contributions of attention are aggregated at scale. If 20 million people in the Western world watched five minutes of advertising a day for 40 days, the resulting economic value could fund access to the injection for people in Africa and other parts of the world.

The point is not simply that people watch an advertisement. It is that billions of small moments of attention can be converted into something that creates measurable value in the real world.

That is the structural shift WeAre8 is trying to demonstrate: moving from an internet economy that primarily extracts value from people's attention to one where that value can be shared and put to work for people and communities.

WeAre8 has taken a different approach.

Its ecosystem brings together a social platform designed around human connection, AI-powered safety infrastructure, community-first discovery through its Vibe Stream, an in-app wallet and an advertising engine designed to create a different flow of value through the digital economy. At its core is the 8I Shield, which uses AI to protect people from harmful behaviour, toxicity, abuse, child safety risks, exploitation and other harms. The social experience itself is designed around human connection rather than simply maximising screen time, giving people the ability to connect with their communities, discover new things and then put the phone down and get on with their lives.

Proven before scaling globally

WeAre8 has deliberately taken a different approach to growth. Rather than pursuing rapid scale at all costs, the company has spent the past decade building, testing and proving the infrastructure required to demonstrate that a different social and economic model can work.

That means proving the technology, the safety infrastructure, the advertising model, the creator and publisher ecosystem and, critically, whether people will choose to participate in a platform designed to give more value back to them.

That approach has now translated into meaningful traction, with more than 400 successful major brand campaigns delivered and more than 3 million downloads. The platform has attracted support from organisations and individuals including Warner Bros., BBC, BBC Studios, Channel 4, Rio Ferdinand, Courteney Cox and Usher, reflecting the breadth of the ecosystem being built around the platform.

The company has also deliberately used this period to prove that its economic model can work in practice. WeAre8 shares 75% of advertising revenue across people, creators, publishers, communities and causes, creating a mechanism through which advertising spend can flow beyond the platform and into the wider economy.


The decision to scale now is therefore not about proving whether the concept is possible. WeAre8 has spent years proving the model. The next phase is about taking what has been built and scaling it globally.

Creators and publishers can build audiences and participate economically, while advertising revenue can also support charities, sporting foundations and public service initiatives, including dedicated Teachers, Nurses and Student Funds, alongside support for veterans and environmental programmes. People can discover content through communities they have chosen to be part of, while creators, publishers, businesses and community organisations can participate in an ecosystem designed to return more of the value generated online to the people and communities creating it.

This is the fundamental economic difference between WeAre8 and the traditional social media model. Every day, billions of dollars are created through people's time, creativity and attention. WeAre8 believes the people who create that value should share in it.

The internet has spent the last twenty years extracting value from people. The next twenty should be about creating value for them. WeAre8 is an example of what social media can become when people are inspired, connected and able to share in the value their attention creates.

The technology exists. The infrastructure has been built. The next step is to take what has been built and scale it globally, creating a social infrastructure designed around people, communities and human potential.


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About WeAre8
WeAre8 is a social media platform built around people and shared value. It is a place to connect with friends, creators and communities, discover content and share experiences in a safer digital environment.

Unlike traditional social media platforms, WeAre8 shares 75% of advertising revenue back with people, creators, publishers and communities.

WeAre8 was founded by Zoe Kalar, a media and technology entrepreneur with more than 35 years of industry experience. The platform has been built over the past 10 years building the technology and infrastructure.

WeAre8 is building a different kind of social media, where people are protected, communities are strengthened and people can share in the value they help create.



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