The Web3 Foundation's white paper places the average UK internet user's annual commercial contribution at $1,604, which the authors aggregate to $189,405 over a 60-year "digital lifetime".
The figure is built around a Personal Data Annual Value (PDAV) benchmark the Swiss nonprofit compiled to capture how advertising, AI platforms, APIs, enterprise software, hardware ecosystems and inferred behavioural profiles turn routine online activity into corporate revenue.
"The implicit bargain of Web2 was simple: free services in exchange for invisible extraction," the paper states.
It argues AI has changed the economics so human-generated data now trains models and improves recommendations and predictions, rather than merely supporting targeted advertising.
It finds nine in ten users accept privacy policies in under ten seconds, only 1 to 3% read them in full, and Facebook's privacy policy grew from 1,137 words in 2005 to more than 7,000 words by 2025, long enough that the average reader would need nearly an hour to finish it.
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The foundation stops short of saying users are owed a literal six-figure payout from Meta or Google, saying the PDAV is intended as a benchmark rather than a direct cash entitlement.
It concludes the current internet economy represents a vast transfer of value from individuals to companies carried out with little visibility or bargaining power for the people supplying the data.
