Nowadays, technology firms are going to the extremes like implementing virtual machines with a custom instruction set inside of PDF files [1], so they can sell exploits to governments who use them to spy on their enemies.

I think not much has changed. Highly sophisticated spying activities are still happening in today's world. The advanced techniques required are very valuable, and are thus only used in cases where the desired info is valuable enough, and cannot be obtained through simpler means.

Users voluntarily sharing "a ridiculous amount of information" are not the target group of today's sophisticated hacks, and were not the target group of the Selentric bug either.

[1]: https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-deep-dive-i...