Of course, it can be, but it's so easy to fix by forking that it doesn't matter, unlike with non-free software. AFAIK Pop!_OS based on Ubuntu is not spyware. A

Of course, it can be, but it's so easy to fix by forking that it doesn't matter, unlike with non-free software. AFAIK Pop!_OS based on Ubuntu is not spyware. Also, Ubuntu is not free software. Only some parts of it are free.