Edited to clarify.
Things to consider: How much of your data would you be comfortable letting Lemmy sell vs Reddit? If Zuck treated users better, would you be more accepting of Meta monetizing your data every way possible? When it comes to using something for free (tangible or intangible) do you accept a company selling your personal information if their practices align with what you feel is fair?
Oof, if Lemmy started selling data, I’d be downtrodden. It has been a godsend to me that this place took off ever since Reddit shit the bed. I had an account from a while back and was able to essentially resume seamlessly.
I do all sorts of craziness to avoid my data being sold, but like most here, I do have some exceptions.
I keep my Google account for work, but use protonmail, invidious with/sponsorblock and yt-dlp, ddg lite/teddit for search, librewolf, ublock/noscript/etc. All on a Linux desktop with Mullvad VPN for when I need extra privacy (argh, matey).
Phone is Pixel with GrapheneOS and as much Fdroid over sandboxed Google Play as possible.
Exceptions made:
Google: Account for work and edge cases, (ie buying Pixel directly from them to leave OEM unlocking available).
LinkedIn: It’s just too prevalent for job hunting in my area, and Microsoft owns it and my data.
Github: Not much to say here, if you write/pull code, you use it, and Microsoft takes some data.
Steam: Again, not much to say, Id prefer offline, but triple A titles don’t do that as much on PC no more…
Meetup: Similar reason to LinkedIn, networking platforms.
Waze: I try to use OSM as much as possible, but Waze has better adjusting based off of Google owned traffic data.
Amazon: I actually use them less and less these days, but some things are just easier to get through.
Given Up:
Instagram: I’ve given up Instagram, which was hardest as many old friends and online acquaintances are on there. But I wasn’t posting any more and interaction was less and less.
Reddit: Gave up reddit for all the reasons for you’ve heard already. I actually used the official app and didn’t have a problem with it. But the politics of it rubbed me the wrong way. I’m still hoping the fediverse becomes the standard for social media online.
Microsoft Windows: Oh man, and Linux is king. MUCH better experience.
ios: Yeah, GrapheneOS drives me back to Google in a way, but it’s just a better experience for me than my old iPhone which is just far less customizable and limiting.
The only reason I’m still on windows is because of Microsoft Access.