There are legitimate, ethical ways to make money, and then not so ethical ones. It seems for tech companies, they often can’t find the ethical ways or they simply don’t produce enough money, and so they feel forced to act unethically.
The only reason they get away with it is… well everyone is doing it. It’s a culture problem, and it’s viral to the entire tech economy. Nobody cares about being scummy, doing things behind users backs, invading their privacy, employing dark patterns, or even leaking highly sensitive data.
Its not that complicated, most engineers could write their own tool in a day or two.
You have to be terribly myopic not to appreciate it.
Honestly, the more money made off the "dumber" product, the more intelligent the businessman.
My favorite business is 1800GotJunk