I’m not debating the worse case. I’m going by history of how the FBI acted in the 60s during the Civil Rights Area and how it currently acts with the “War on Terror” and the “War on Drugs”.
Having a government that is actively hostile to minorities - religious, race, nationality, or sexuality only takes a populist leader who speaks toward their prejudices....
If we're going to go historical, we'll have to include company towns (which Facebook is revisiting as a concept, incidentally) and debt slavery, the Pinkertons machine gunning strikers...
It isn’t “historical” what is happening today in Gitmo, being able to be locked up without a trial if you are deemed a “terrorist”, or secret warrants.
I find Facebook a far more significant currently active risk to my privacy than I do the government. I'd love to see a GDPR in the US.