I do have sympathy, considering a smartphone has become somewhat a necessity and not everyone is aware of options like the FairPhone. I agree about the filter, but it’s also true that no matter how much time social media consumes in peoples’ life, a lot of people would not want to say “I spend money on social media,” to look quite that online, no-life internet obsessed what a loser and all other sorts of insults. And even if they told nobody, they might feel ashamed about it—because oh my god, who pays for social media except a terminally online power-tripping mod lmao. Especially since the norm now is to not pay, and people tend to resist change that incurs any cost on them. Ads and the corporate control thing are probably just a minor annoyance for most people, they personally have not hit their bullshit limit yet, not everyone has the same priorities. I’d like them to have the option of a nice ad-free social media too. If I wasn’t around for the Reddit API drama I would not even be aware of the Fediverse and would not be here having this discussion with you. Also, not everyone is in a financial position to donate for social media.

Honestly kind of fearing a negative response because of your statement you have no sympathy for that kind of person—which means you might be more willing to engage in a harsh manner with me too. But I’ll take that risk in order to speak up in opposition to the no sympathy viewpoint.