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You could indeed make the same argument about those products, it seems to me? We might've had much better alternatives to those products if they hadn't.

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German law forbade the "sale" or combined sale of any good at zero cost, even carrier bags until the turn of this century. Coincidentally or not, they have the Mittelstand high technology SME sector and, until the beginning of this century, a high wage low inequality economy.

But also have regulation that identifies businesses which have "arguably" predatory business models. Just because you don't charge money for something, doesn't mean you are offering something for free whilst at the same time operating on a investment type ponzi/pyramid-like scheme that relies on user numbers and ad-eyeballs increasing.

As much as I'm an absolute free-market capitalist advocate, we need to all get it into our heads that it only works in an absolutely free market that isn't propped up in some areas by regulation. As soon as we start fiddling, we have to make sure we fiddle in the right spots, otherwise we're just solidifying and promoting an unhealthy/unfair/predatory market.

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