I’m upset that this happened, but this shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone who is the least bit informed.
It’s been almost 13 years since I got a Facebook account. I’ve paid a grand total of $0.00 during that time.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone who’s used Facebook since 2013 that the ads you get are tailored to you based on personal information and your tags and likes. It was 2012 and 2013 where it became clear that what Cambridge Analytica was doing in-terms of data-mining, was not only theoretically possible, but actually happening
I deleted my account, opened a fresh one, took on a psydeunom, never liked anything except original posts from friends, never tag or geo tag photos and have myself locked down from tagging, searching, proper browser settings, etc. I don’t spend much time on it, but it’s the best way to keep in touch with friends and family, especially if you travel a lot. I use Messenger almost as much as Skype or FaceTime.
I can’t say I’ve ever read the License Agreement, but I’ve always just assumed they make their money by selling the information I enter into their “completely” cost free service. My grandfather used to tell me “nothing’s free in life.” If you don’t want the world to know that you “Like” Canada’s Wonderland, or “tagged” your burger at Montana’s, don’t click.
I’d rather pay a service fee than have my info mined, but here we are.