Take "the modern web" as a cultural descriptor then, not a technical one. There has been a huge shift in the last decade-plus. Software does not serve the user's interest anymore, and it sucks. Yes, this sort of thing has been technically possible across a range of platforms for a while. But the difference is that people weren't doing this kind of garbage before, and now it's everywhere.
Casual gaming is an excellent example of how this has changed. The whole purpose of the software is different. It used to be that you would buy a game—a piece of software purpose-built to entertain you. Now you are no longer buying a game; you are buying a value extraction device that uses a game as bait. Software just isn't built for users anymore.
> It used to be that you would buy a game—a piece of software purpose-built to entertain you. Now you are no longer buying a game; you are buying a value extraction device that uses a game as bait.
This applies to a lot of things besides games nowadays. A lot of software (and certain hardware - "smart" devices, etc) are built/sold at a loss with the primary objective being to generate "engagement" and/or collect personal data. The functionality of the device is purely there as a bait to get the mark to buy/adopt the software or device and would not be there if there was a way to get the marks to "engage" anyway.
I think the OPs point still stands. This has nothing to do with the web, it's the same thing with mobile apps and desktop apps on every platform except open source ones.
Casual gaming is an excellent example of how this has changed. The whole purpose of the software is different. It used to be that you would buy a game—a piece of software purpose-built to entertain you. Now you are no longer buying a game; you are buying a value extraction device that uses a game as bait. Software just isn't built for users anymore.