> Am I really supposed to sit here and pretend that social media companies don't know private information about the people who use their platforms?
I'd say that's also a huge problem, it doesn't have to be either/or. The thing is, FB or Google don't employ people with guns and can't throw you in prison. The vast majority of people also wouldn't expect the US government to be reading their private messages illegally and without a warrant.
They do sell your information and that's a huge problem. They don't have more data on you though, because the gov is aggregating all of that + what they get from programs like PRISM. Consider the likes of FB selling your data to the gov a part of the same program that Snowden shed light on.
I'd say that's also a huge problem, it doesn't have to be either/or. The thing is, FB or Google don't employ people with guns and can't throw you in prison. The vast majority of people also wouldn't expect the US government to be reading their private messages illegally and without a warrant.