Ok. That’s reassuring. 
Yes. By righteous, I simply mean that it was a good decision, despite the motive being to protect a politician.
It’s definitely harder in the US, but they also have tons of privacy activists and voices, so I trust in that. Cory Doctorow is a phenomenal advocate and thinker who is pushing and expanding the conversation. And it’s not like the EU has banned the monetization and exploitation of data, either. They’re doing better, but the GDPR is not enough.
We need to change that. Also, many privacy invasive companies like Meta tell their users that their data is theirs, but in practice that is not the case. They only say that to reassure us. It’s privacy and security theater.
Fair enough. 
There’s a long way to go, but more people are becoming aware of privacy issues, so there is still hope. Even if we never get to enjoy the shade of the trees we plant, we must continue to fight and spread the word.
I hope you are wrong.
I saw the interesting quote below earlier today on Mastodon, which echoes something I have always believed in, which is that there needs to be mainstream user-friendly, eco-friendly, repair-friendly, open-sourced, private alternatives to Android/iOS, macOS/Windows, and iPhone/every Android manufacturers. Otherwise, these companies will always have a way to exert control over us.