[mmt]

Although that, technically, refutes an accusation of non-existence of customer support, it begs the question of what it means to be a enough of a "customer" to receive support (and at what level):

Is it enough to use a gratis product? ("Paying" for it with data or ad-eyeballs, I suppose)

Is it enough to pay money for the product?

Must one also pay a subscription fee in addition to paying for the product in the first place? [1]

Is something else, sometimes, necessary (such as volume/clout)?

I think we've seen most of the spectrum of answers from the software industry (especially "enterprise" software), with the main novelty being the existence of web/SaaS gratis products.

[1] Depending on where on the spectrum between hand-holding and mere bug fixes the support ends up falling, this could be characterized as double-dipping