Which underlines the fact that your employer is your customer.
Other companies are paying, "users" are what's delivered to them in return. Some of the money the customer is using to pay for the "users" might come from the "users" themselves, but they're likely to have subsidies and revenue from entirely separate sources too.
Right, but for a lot of us in tech, corporations are also how we get paid.
If users pay my employer directly, with cash? That's great. If users pay my employer indirectly, by viewing ads? If that's what they want it's fine, I guess.
But a solution where my employer can't afford to pay me? Unthinkable.