[epicide]

It seems like OP meant for it to be negative because they think that it is negative. You're just explaining their point back to them.

Just because transactions are "basic" doesn't mean they aren't also negative and, therefore, exploitative.

The bit about them not selling your information outright: the way that they sell those ads is based off of your information. The way that they do so matters, but not as much for this particular conversation: they are still exploiting your data regardless of the precise way that they package it.

Yes, you can use their services to get features and abilities for free. Nobody is saying that part is bad. The problem is that they have made it hard/impossible to go anywhere else if you don't want to use them.

The "company stores" of yore also made it particularly easy to get the tools and supplies you needed, but it was still an unfair trade. The fact that Google and Facebook make such massive economic profit off of something supposedly so worthless as personal data just doesn't add up.