Relevant ads existed before internet was even a thing. A lawnmower ad inside a gardening magazine is every bit as relevant as a hyper targeted banner.
The former evaluates the context of the content being delivered by the server, while the latter evaluates an encyclopedia’s worth of data (both inferences and known traits) about the user.
People somehow think that if you get rid of ads the surveillance architecture will go away. They say “if you’re not paying, you’re the product” but the converse is not true - you could be paying and STILL the company could be collecting your data, such as ISPs.
We need full end to end encryption and decentralization! Everything should be opt-in by design.