The Price of Free Google Report.
Proton analyzed over 54,000 demographic profiles using 2025 ad auction data to estimate what advertisers pay to reach different types of Americans. The range is much wider than you might expect.
The average American generates about $1,605 a year in advertising value. A 35- to 44-year-old man in Bozeman, MT, without children, using a desktop and making high-value corporate searches, generates an estimated $17,929.30. An 18- to 24-year-old father in Fort Smith, AR, using an Android phone and making low-value searches, generates $31.05.
That’s a 577x difference between two people using the same free service.
But if you use it then you really did consent to it. It’s right there in the t&C’s.
On an aside, if I have to suffer ads I would rather have ads which are about things I am interested in.
I did not consent to anything, I did not agree to any terms and conditions. Consent is active, not passive. Companies like Google and Meta are also tracking you regardless of whether or not you are using their service through other websites. Again, I did not consent, I am not using their service. Stop defending predatory, rapist behavior.
That’s the point though. If you do not consent then do not use.
I’m not using Google or Meta services, but they are still tracking me. That’s my point. Stop simping for corpo rapists.