I think the argument is that things like Firefox need to share some data with third parties to function correctly. The remote web server needs to know what page you want, your login details etc. That's not to say there's other things that Firefox does that isn't privacy focused, but it's accepted that Firefox has to share some data at some point to function.

Audacity, however, doesn't. It's a standalone application. It works on local files. It has worked perfectly fine like this for decades. And now a new owner has come in and changed that within weeks. That's not okay.

The same complaints are being made about other software doing similar. For example, Microsoft's attempt to make all Windows accounts online. We've had 30+ years of Windows without online accounts. Why should that change? and most importantly, why must it be forced upon unsuspecting users?

I do agree with you, though, that anybody can call it anything they want, and that doesn't make it true. But it's also fair to be suspicious of unnecessary changes that, on their own may seem innocuous, but together lead to something far worse.