I think this is one of the rare cases where the now-popular-and-often-misused word "gaslighting" fits perfectly: the companies are punishing users because of a

I think this is one of the rare cases where the now-popular-and-often-misused word "gaslighting" fits perfectly: the companies are punishing users because of a law that protects them from data exploitation, then blame the law for protecting them. It's beyond evil. On the other hand, nobody is entitled to free content on the internet. Hopefully people will become annoyed enough that they will stop visiting the sites of data exploitation companies altogether.