I hate Facebook, but...

Today I read a hacker news post that linked to a post by The Register titled "EU tells Meta it can't paywall privacy". It talks about the current EU regulations that are requiring Facebook to offer an option to not be tracked by Facebook. Facebook is attempting to comply with this by charging money for a "premium" option that doesn't include tracking. The Register states that this would cost up to €250 a year. The post goes on to say that users are forced into a "fake choice" by forcing users to either pay money or be tracked.

Comments on hacker news are reacting positively to this news. I however don't understand this reaction. The "fake choice" is a false dichotomy. You don't only have two choices, there's a third (there's always a third) option. You could not use Facebook.

Let's throw some straw-men at this to figure out how I might be wrong about the false dichotomy.

Maybe Facebook is spying on you without you using their products or agreeing to some sort of terms.

If that were the case then, yes, this would be an actual dichotomy. However, this would also be extortion. It would also be spying, and regardless of the legalities, it's something we should endeavor to stop.

Maybe Facebook, is lying about how they use your data, or something.

That wouldn't actually resolve the false dichotomy, but it would sure be terrible. That's still another issue.

Maybe Facebook is doing something illegal with your data.

Again that still doesn't resolve the false dichotomy. If it's illegal then we shouldn't allow them to do whatever it is that's illegal.

Maybe I'm dumb but that's all I could come up with. I'm sure this weird blog will be read by thousands and someone will have some good arguments, but we'll move on from here.

At the end of the day, saying that Facebook has to provide a free service to users in the manner that they want is crazy. The reason Facebook can offer a "service" for "free" is because they track your data and sell it profitably. There isn't a way to offer a service for free at all. Someone somewhere has to pay for it; period.

If Facebook ever complied with this ruling you better believe you'd have received the results of a magic genie wish (they would comply in the most obtuse way possible). There is absolutely no reason Facebook could (even if they wanted to) operate in an environment where they weren't getting paid for what they do. They also aren't going to find a magic free energy solution where everything is actually free.