[jarjoura]

That absolutely was true prior to 2016, but now the post Brexit, post populist world has shaken a lot of people up. Before people didn't realize what giving up their data meant, and they still don't, but at least now they are hypersensitive to it. Hyper-targeting used to mean you didn't see ads for things you didn't care about, but now it seems to be a weapon for reaching vulnerable people.

Ads targeting isn't going away, but I'm not so sure a pay to use service wouldn't stand a chance in this current climate.

[gabbygab]

Good point. It's always possible that a paradigm shift can change the culture and open up the landscape to paid services. But from a purely anecdotal perspective I'm not seeing the paradigm shift. Instead, I'm seeing the opposite. People are made aware of the privacy violation and data collection and almost welcome it. They don't care if they are constantly monitored as long as they can find the nearest starbucks on their smartphones. Just my experience. but I'd welcome paid services and simply more competition. The centralization and domination of tech spaces by a handful of companies is something we all should be worried about.