We have collectively sacrificed our privacy because we're collectively not willing to pay $1/day for what used to be called newspapers and magazines ($1/day is equivalent to subscribing to a daily paper or a couple magazines, as most people did in days of old). There is a cost to providing news. The industry made clear it preferred to sell subscriptions but consumers collectively said no I want free beer and laughed at newspapers and magazine publishers for being so stupid as to try to sell subscriptions. Having been told no I won't pay for subscriptions the industry was dragged forcibly from what was unquestionably its preferred subscription model into the ad tracking supported model we have today. All because costs people can see (subscriptions) are less palatable than far higher costs they can't see (ubiquitous tracking).
[0] https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/6/24/18715421/internet-free-...