How did we get to the point where the tech industry is in the user-data business instead of the tech business?
Every day, Google collects data on billions of people worldwide, according to The Regulatory Review. The dodge that users gain some benefit from ad targeting is fallacy. For example, if Google’s search were decoupled from its advertising, there would be less chance for users to be misled by ignored search terms and seemingly hard-wired results.
There’s nothing beneficial to the user about Google’s sponsored search results. That’s also true of the adjacent Google ads that follow you around from site to site.