[konschubert]

Social media doesn’t primarily exist to gather data.

Social media companies’ primary mission is to keep people hooked auch that they can show them more ads. The data collection and targeting is ok order to better target these ads.

There is no big conspiracy to somehow do something unimaginable with that data

[drewcoo]

Social media exists so that profits can be made from advertising. And that implies the gathering of data.

Invoking the word "conspiracy" is a cheap way to dismiss any argument. No conspiracy was asserted by the GP. And any time there is hidden information and people are similarly motivated it can appear to be a conspiracy. This could be why whenever I play poker everyone else at the table seems to be conspiring to take my money away . . .