What if adtech is not really about selling ads? What if search business is not really about providing search? Perhaps the data collected from these ads/trackers

What if adtech is not really about selling ads? What if search business is not really about providing search? Perhaps the data collected from these ads/trackers everywhere is the raw material of more valuable predicition and manipulation products sold and classified on the income statement as advertising. The content producers that carry these so called ads are also now servant to the revenue provider, the so called adtech company, and not their readers.