I would like a Facebook-like service with a subscription model and without the large-scale data harvesting, but in the current market such a service cannot exis

I would like a Facebook-like service with a subscription model and without the large-scale data harvesting, but in the current market such a service cannot exist, even if it does everything right. Social networks have extremely strong network effect going on: the value of a social network to me is strongly dependent on who I can communicate with on that social network (i.e. how many of my friends or acquaintances have an account on the service). The size of the network trumps all other factors. A service that is technically inferior in every way may still be more successful if it got to market a month earlier. More importantly, although barrier to entry is an important factor in the adoption of any technology, I don't think there's a sector where its effect is as extreme as in the social network sector. Even requiring a payment of 1 cent per year would probably turn away enough users to make your service unviable (because of the barrier of setting up an online payment). So a paid-for competitor cannot exist. But in the meantime, Facebook has become the de facto standard for informal communication, much like e-mail is the standard for formal communication. And unlike e-mail, Facebook is not an open protocol where different vendors can provide their own implementation. You can avoid Facebook out of principle but you cannot replace it. Opting out of Facebook often means opting out of a significant chunk of social life. If you are not willing to make this sacrifice, this means that essentially you have no negotiating power over Facebook and will accept its terms and conditions no matter what they are. We already view access to electricity and a telephone as basic rights in developed nations, and we increasingly view an internet connection as a basic right. I think access to social network services (which are actually used by other people) also belong in that list, which is why I think the request of the complainant is reasonable (even if I'm not sure how the social network market should be organized to support this).