I’m a FOSS (free and open source software) contributor and enthusiast. So I prefer to use such products (Lemmy instead of Reddit, Linux instead of Windows, Firefox instead of Chrome, Signal instead of WhatsApp, you get the idea). Was just thinking that if everyone moved to such solutions, the tech and ad industry would lose billions of dollars. That would translate to governments losing billions of dollars in tax revenue. Would such a move ever be encouraged then by the governments?
It’s a “parable of the broken window”. We’re wasting time and effort on proprietary software. You (OP) are now spending that time and effort on other stuff that you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. So somebody is still getting paid, it’s just not the ad industry.