Paid for by advertisers != paid for by ads backed by persistent surveillance The public promise was always it's free because we show you ads. The general publi

Paid for by advertisers != paid for by ads backed by persistent surveillance The public promise was always it's free because we show you ads. The general public equates that with having to view a billboard on the highway. The fact that persistent surveillance is used to serve ads now is never called out or publicized by these companies for a reason. They know that most people would think that is creepy and that they are going to far. The reasoning that we give the users a free app therefore we can do everything in our power to surveil and exploit the information of those users for money is bs. I can't think of a single person who has no conflicts of interest that would say otherwise. There is also so much hand wavy stuff thrown around with this argument like "but we're making the world a better place, so the means justify the ends". I haven't worked at any of the large social media or similar companies but I still feel guilty like I have blood on my hands because of those that feign altruism while being bloodthirsty capitalists in this industry. I am definitely a capitalist but some actions just aren't moral and I don't think we should ignore the reality of those actions.