• That is a problem, because what I tell people all the time is that your data is money. Ad services also serves as a tracking service, and as such gets paid from two directions: from advertisers and mass collection of data.

        The problem with both is that they have been devalued in a race to the bottom, mostly thanks to ads swarming the web in the early 2000s.

        This also solidifies Google’s monopoly, because now all advertiser’s have to go through them, as well as Meta or other social networking platforms - which all have their own tracking and ad services.

        People are getting grifted, big time.

      • No, that’s just how it appears through the advertising revenue model.

        Bear in mind this model has been actively developed over the last 20+ years. Imagine of other models enjoyed that kind of attention.

        Consumers pay for ads in product costs. Access for poor people is a myth.

        • If you are too poor to consume the advertised items/services then the actual customers of those products/services are paying for your access.

          I personally use an ad-blocker, but I only hate ads because they can be a vector for malware. P.s. I also use StartPage as my search engine of choice.