I liked the article, but the idea that a company selling its own stock has no cost (typing zeros into a spreadsheet) is wrong. You create more of something, you reduce value per unit, that's supply and demand.

I also didn't understand the focus of the article on privacy. How established is that the difference between American and German users is due to legacy protection? There's differences in the two countries other than privacy. For example people in Germany are a lot less driven by consumption, making them less valuable for advertisers.

EDIT ok so in a sense you good argue it has no cost for the company, but it definitely has a cost to the shareholders.