The lesson
Open a position piece with history the reader accepts, then break the deal in plain numbers before announcing what you're changing.
The move
Matthew Prince's letter, dated July 1, 2025, starts with Page and Brin at Stanford and the traffic-for-content deal. It then says AI makes it "750 times more difficult" to get traffic with OpenAI and "30,000 times" with Anthropic. It announces that Cloudflare will "block AI crawlers" by default and closes with "Happy Content Independence Day!"
Why it works
- Our readThe old deal is stated simply (we copy your content, you get traffic), so the argument that AI broke it follows without jargon.
- Our readThe swiss cheese image for original content filling gaps in an AI engine gives readers a phrase to repeat.
- Our readThe holiday framing and flag illustration make a policy change feel like an event with a name and date.
What not to copy
Don't copy the multipliers or the holiday unless your own claim is as sourced and as specific. Keep the order: shared history, the broken bargain with numbers, then the change you're making and what's next.
