What's happening?

"Milan bans ice cream after midnight." The headline, posted on your friend's XA social media network, formerly known as Twitter and owned by Elon Musk. account, draws you in. But when you click on the headline to read more, a message pops up on the Times' website.

"Start your free trial now," it says. If you want to read the article to find out why Milan has banned ice cream, you have to pay.

Sound familiar? This is becoming common online. Many online newspapers now have paywallsA means of restricting the content of a website, so that people have to pay to access it. - meaning you cannot read their stories for free.

Today, 33% of UK newspapers have online paywalls. The newspapers have put up paywalls because they need to find a way to pay their staff.

But some fear that society is paying a heavy price. Some say it might even be dragging down democracyA system of government based on the idea of rule by the people. itself.

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Just 9% of people in the UK are willing to pay for their news. Instead, many turn to social media - where it is not always possible to tell if news stories are really true.

Some websites do not have paywalls - but they have to rely on companies spending money to put adverts on their sites. But if newspapers rely on companies, they may avoid stories that make those companies look bad.

Is democracy dying behind paywalls?

Yes! A healthy democracy has citizens who know about what is happening in their society. If people cannot access the news because it costs too much, it will be difficult to make sure politicians are doing their jobs properly.

No! Paywalls are not the end of the world. Most sites are still free. And democracy will not benefit if all our papers run out of money.