I believe you mis-characterized the statement you're objecting to: "...not to improve our lives — but to target better marketing and advertising messages at us.

I believe you mis-characterized the statement you're objecting to: "...not to improve our lives — but to target better marketing and advertising messages at us." "but to target better marketing and advertising messages at us" does not equal "are out to intentionally make our lives worse". His point is that is clear that FB _will_ benefit from the newly acquired data. You have confidence we all _might_ benefit. The OP points out FB's history, which is undeniably historic in how it has challenged social norms for privacy. It is also no secret that FB (and Google, and ...) make money from advertising, and that rich datasets of details about people make for financially richer advertisers. Skepticism (maybe a little cynicism, even) is not unhealthy or "mean", in this context.