Having seen those volunteers pour so much time and effort into Duolingo courses (shoutout to the Duolingo Esperanto community), I don’t think any of this monetization shit has ever entered their minds. As far as I can discern, it’s a labor of love for the most ardent of volunteers.

For volunteers making and expounding Duolingo material in their languages, just being able to share their love of the language, and then seeing other people learn the language seems to be their main aim. Ditto for the Reddit moderators, I suppose, just being share their hobby to a community of people that has formed around their subreddit, and then seeing more people come to appreciate it, that’s the main thing that makes the hard work worth it.

This labor of love is what the capitalists have sought to monetize. They look at all of these people doing what they love, and see schmucks waiting to be exploited. And these “community managers” high up the corporate ladder seek to keep this exploitation going.