The "free" in "free market" refers in part to free flow of information. Surfacing information about prices is kind of the point of a market. It's a mechanism

The "free" in "free market" refers in part to free flow of information. Surfacing information about prices is kind of the point of a market. It's a mechanism that assigns prices "automatically" (as contrasted with central planning, etc.) I don't know much about economics but I know, or think I know, that much.)