Compare the parallel logic of "steers are not the product: this ranch is funded by meat buyers so it remains free for cattle."
Go da we da peyeting. (follow the money)
I think the point is not that this statement is incorrect, but rather that it doesn’t accurately convey the severity of the situation. More accurate would be: “manipulation of their audience is their product”.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24576623
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Manipulation of the audience in pre-TV days, ca. fourth century BC:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:19...
> "The emotions are all those affections which cause men to change their opinion in regard to their judgements"
Remember the Maine!
It will explain it and other concepts for you better than me. It's a good doco to start on.
I'm not my eyeballs. Facebook et al don't care about most of me.
My sex and age is 90% of the metrics they know how to use. The other 10% is stuff I've searched recently.
What they are buying is time.
The product concept is from TV, social media is different - https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/07/16/product/