We're freer than we were 30+ years ago when the entire media was controlled. We got a taste of freedom and they're cracking down again, but the internet is infinite. You're not forced to use the platforms that are controlled. See this site for instance.
My theory is that it's a "legal" way to ensure everyone has your data, so if someone who shouldn't have it ends up with it they can claim it was part of such and such leak.
I recall over a decade ago stories used to be about how someone with sensitive data forgot their laptop on some public transportation and now it's missing. Or even earlier than that with briefcases.
It gives them an alibi for criminal organizations having that to scam and also allows companies like google to know even more about you.
There was an entire channel of black guys drugging and raping some white 14 year old girl. 6 of them went to prison because of those videos. There was enough cp on the site to get pornhub to nuke millions of videos overnight in a desperate attempt to erase the evidence.
There are alternatives. Yandex is an alt to Google. This site is an alt to reddit. There are still old forum style sites out there, IRC, and other reddit clones that are decentralized.
You will find more people on the controlled social media like facebook, reddit, youtube, etc, but you're not forced to use it or make it your only venue. That's really our issue that we're not ready to give up that which does not serve us and just make our own. If we all got together and did that, not only would it split the internet in half, but pretty soon everyone would want to be on our half.