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It depends, at the very least there should be more transparency about what is being shared with who. But what do you do in situations where they’re providing some sort of “free” service, like Gmail or something? I feel like there’s some sort if trade-off happening there, but we should be fully informed about what is that’s being given about us.
Y'know, if I could use gmail and pay a few bucks to do it (and not be tracked everywhere without a way to opt out) I would do it. Likewise for any social media that makes its money by trading my privacy for it, I would pay them for the service of being a conduit by which I can keep track of friends and family if it meant I wouldn't be followed everywhere by ads. As for how ad revenue funds so much of the useful content online, it's depressing as hell to see that political propaganda is free while informative media is sequestered behind paywalls. I'm old enough to remember when the news was a prestige business and didn't have to turn a profit
The fact that platforms like Meta give advertisers (or propagandists) the ability to target their messaging to people that fit a detailed profile, tho, ensures that our politics can now be cheaply and profitably flooded with shit, and that in real ways is a threat to democracy, I think.
You know that there are paid email services that aren't Gmail, right?
Proton isn't a bad choice for this. They have paid and free tiers which can get you Google-like features without giving your data to an advertising company.
Titan-mail/flockmail is good for people wanting a business email not run by big G or MS.