I think there's two things here 1. It absolutely helped "lower" prices because you never pay anything for the services that are built around ad-networks from t

I think there's two things here 1. It absolutely helped "lower" prices because you never pay anything for the services that are built around ad-networks from the start, specifically social media. Do you think 1.39 billion people would pay $8 a month to use tik-tok (12BN rev/1.39B users)? No chance. The entire conceit of the consumer venture landscape since 2012 is: "How do you build a community on the back of VC money which forms the data source for your ad-network?" 2. There are certainly companies now that get the benefit from the data without "passing the savings on to consumers" but they are saving money in their costs.