I have an account and I paid zero for it. Are we talking about the same thing?

You've paid with a certain amount of personal information.

But to be fair, that's the same with a newspaper subscription.

You can't buy a newspaper at a kiosk for cash?

Good point. I think you can probably also read it for free at a library, or at work (on their paid sub however). Lots of options, true.

You're assuming I used my own information. It's the internet. You can lie.

Worse, you can be banned for reasons unrelated to your local laws and lose access.