Brave was caught inserting their own referral code in signup forms on websites. This is basically exactly what Honey is doing and under fire for right now.
Brave basically does a man-in-the-middle attack on those websites. This goes MUCH further than just a privacy issue, it's a security issue.
I don't care about privacy, it doesn't exist, and I use Chrome. But I won't compromise my security by using a browser that is happy to pirate the pages I view.
Oh, I suppose I do see some ads. Every now and then there will be a little popup recommending something - occasionally it's something even relevant. It's funny bc those ads are from Brave but they don't use the Browser, they come thru as desktop notifications and I only see them there. I do have an ad blocker that has always been on also, so I maybe augmenting the Brave experience a little but I just don't see ads online.
I use Edge occasionally - which is far superior to Google and I don't kno how ppl deal with browsing the Internet like that, it's wildly frustrating.
Don't opt-in and enjoy an ad free experience.