the purchaser had no idea if they were buying the original or a screenshot.
NFTs do not solve that problem whatsoever either.

It's not perfect but at least it's some progress.
Applying concepts of materiality to digital items is not progress. It is, quite literally, a regressive concept. "We do not know how to adequately monetize these for content providers so let's pretend like an infinitely replicable digital good is actually pretend scarce" is the opposite of progress.