I understand that they rely on the network effect, but my point is that if they went to a pay version (note that I edited what I said I would be willing to pay-

I understand that they rely on the network effect, but my point is that if they went to a pay version (note that I edited what I said I would be willing to pay- the first was an accident) their revenue would increase. If a significant number of us did so then perhaps they could even reduce costs by not having to meddle as much with advertisers. $25/year more than doubles their revenue from me. And they can still show me some ads. The tracking is ridiculously comprehensive as you point out- yet they don't get the value that they could get from direct payment. So I'm suggesting that they do us all a favor and let us opt-out of privacy invasion with cash.