its not stealing. Its entirely up to the user if they wish to see ads or not. Just like its up to the user if they want to watch commercials during a television episode or not. I don’t think it would be stealing if you left the room during commercials? Or during a football game you leave to get some beers during halftime instead of watching the 4 million dollar commercial they paid brad pitt to do.
I also think everyone has a different view on ethical boundaries.
There is also different types of tolerances to ads.
Like for me im on the other end of spectrum where I vehemently oppose ads. It doesn’t matter what service it is, I just hate it lol.
So i’m actually the perfect candidate for adblock because it improves my user experience. I am then actually more likely to use there service instead of hating on the service itself.
Like I use adblock on facebook, 0 ads , 0 news , 0 newsfeed. but… I use their marketplace and whatsapp and other messenger stuff, so they use that data off of me. I’m content with that.
but if i was forced to endure the ads I would delete the whole platform. So then they only lose from a user like myself.
These topics are very interesting actually.