Why is ad blockers sharing ad revenue with publishers so controversial?

The Wall Street Journal have reported on the news that AdBlock Plus will soon
include a feature that will allow users to pay for the sites that they visit most often. This comes through a partnership with Sweden-based content-funding startup Flattr, founded by Peter Sunde and Linus Olsson. Peter Sunde is most well known for having been the spokesperson of The Pirate Bay, which eventually got him convicted for piracy and eventually listed on the National Criminal group of international fugitives. Flattr has their headquarter in Malmö, Sweden and was founded in 2010. Flattr and Adblock Plus will keep a 10% cut of the revenue generated, while the remaining revenue will be divided up and handed to publishers based on "engagement." They're currently working on an algorithm to determine what “engagement” actually means.
Not everyone is impressed by Adblock Plus's foray into the micropayment area, even though it's not news. Eyeo has a minority ownership stake in Flattr and they're been testing the waters for micropayments for some time, as well as explored the possibilities of acceptable ads, and substituting ads on websites directly, or at least allowing specific ads to come through. This feature was used by Amnesty International, where their ads only were allowed to penetrate the adblock on websites for a day. Fortune says that Flattr & Adblock Plus plan to generate $500M for publishers in 2017.
Publishers are wary of these ideas. With Adblock Plus doing this, it looks like a shakedown to some publishers. "Nice website you got there, would be a shame if nobody saw your ads". Adblock Plus positioning themselves to take 10% of anything donated to the content producers via Flattr won't settle that feeling. Meanwhile Telecoms are substituting ads on websites, as they literally own the road to the internet and can do this. Everyone wants a slice of the ad network revenue, for that is where the real money lies. When Brave browser appeared as a solution to clunky slow ad ridden browsers, the Newspaper Association of America sent a cease and desist letter to them, protesting what they saw as digital theft of their revenue.

Your plan to use our content to sell your advertising is indistinguishable from a plan to steal our content to publish on your own website. Your public statements demonstrate
clearly that you intend to harness and exploit the content of all the publishers on the Web to sell your own advertising.