Digital media is brutal, and Medium's Ev Williams just showed why

There's a growing number of people who believe that digital media's ad-supported model is broken. Add the co-founder/CEO of Medium, Ev Williams, to the top of that list, now.

Williams, who's also the co-founder of Twitter, announced on Wednesday that Medium has laid off 50 people—about a third of its total staff—as the company looks to change how it makes money.

As part of the announcement, Williams put forth a dark view of internet publishing:

"It’s clear that the broken system is ad-driven media on the internet," Williams wrote in a Medium post announcing the layoffs.

"It simply doesn’t serve people. In fact, it’s not designed to. The vast majority of articles, videos, and other “content” we all consume on a daily basis is paid for — directly or indirectly — by corporations who are funding it in order to advance their goals. And it is measured, amplified, and rewarded based on its ability to do that. Period. As a result, we get…well, what we get. And it’s getting worse."

Williams would know. He helped create one of the first popular self-publishing websites in Blogger, before moving on to help found Twitter, arguably the most popular self-publishing platform, period.

In 2012, he started Medium, a place he said he hoped would turn into a destination for great writing. While the website featured an attractive and simple aesthetic combined with an easy-to-use interface, the company still primarily relied on advertising to bring in money.

Williams wrote that he now realizes Medium will need to change its business model to survive.

"We had started scaling up the teams to sell and support products that were, at best, incremental improvements on the ad-driven publishing model, not the transformative model we were aiming for," he wrote.

Just what that model will be isn't entirely clear. Williams still reads like his usual idealistic and high-minded self.

"We believe that a better system — one that serves people — is possible. In fact, it’s imperative," he said, but added that "It is too soon to say exactly what this will look like."

As part of the layoffs, Medium will be closing its offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City.