> However, I don't fully understand the privacy argument. It would seem to be that instead of handing over your entire DNS query history and unencrypted HTTP history to your own corporate IT department or the Starbucks Wi-Fi router, you're now handing over all that data to Mullvad.

Well, you're of course right that the privacy argument for VPNs doesn't make a lot of sense. But there's a whole industry living from people believing it does, and ad partners of that industry willing to proclaim that VPNs are essential for your personal privacy.