Your theory appears to be that the minority of privacy-focused individuals are weird outliers in preference. but my impression is that they are weird outliers in knowledge.
When I talk with non-technical relatives about their internet use, privacy is a major issue for them.
They know, for example, that Facebook knows a lot about them, which scares them. They don't know how much ad providers track them, but if you tell them they're more scared. Facebook is at least a known entity that provides them some benefit. Shadowy private companies profiling them is a lot harder to get comfortable with.
When I talk with non-technical relatives about their internet use, privacy is a major issue for them.
They know, for example, that Facebook knows a lot about them, which scares them. They don't know how much ad providers track them, but if you tell them they're more scared. Facebook is at least a known entity that provides them some benefit. Shadowy private companies profiling them is a lot harder to get comfortable with.