Mozilla and the Creative Commons want to reshape the Internet without advertising

Over the years, many Internet publishers have been aiming to fund online content through small consumer payments, rather than through target-ad, privacy-influencing ads. Now, Mozilla, Creative Commons, and a new micropayment startup Coil have announced a $100 million grant program to finally realize this dream.

The program, called “GRANT FOR THE WEB,” will “ award no less than 50% of all grant dollars each year to content and software projects that will be openly licensed. These grants will support developers, individuals, and organizations seeking to monetize openly-licensed works.”

The organization behind the GRANT FOR THE WEB program is setting up an advisory committee to determine exactly how to pay the grant. The project can help create a network economy that provides more space for small businesses and publishers. The grant came from funding mainly from Coil itself, which was obtained from cryptocurrency and remittance company Ripple, who was the chief technology officer of Ripple. Thomas said that their goal is to provide at least 50% of funding to organizations that use open licenses such as Creative Commons licenses.