The real value is what they managed to pay for the product plus the cost of their own work. You could know it down to the cent and still not benefit from cutting out the middleman.

I think more important than you not knowing the “real” value is that they’re relying on you not being able to access that value. You can’t talk to the producers directly, and even if you can, you can’t purchase in sufficient bulk to see the same price they do.

The margins don’t simply exist because of hidden information, but because the grocery store is actually adding something to the equation (else if capitalism does its thing, someone else would start drinking their milkshakes).

In the same fashion, you might be able to add X value to Meta by adding some feature to Facebook, and they’re relying on X to exceed your pay, but that doesn’t mean you can produce X value without Meta/Facebook and capture it for yourself — if you could, then you’d be an idiot not to. And I don’t think Meta is relying on their high value ICs being smart enough to provide value, but so dumb that they wouldn’t take money just lying in front of them.