Of course, it can be, but it's so easy to fix by forking that it doesn't matter,...

fsflover 19 days ago | parent | context | favorite | on: Dystopian tales of that time when I sold out to Go...

Of course, it can be, but it's so easy to fix by forking that it doesn't matter, unlike with non-free software. AFAIK Pop!_OS based on Ubuntu is not spyware.

Also, Ubuntu is not free software. Only some parts of it are free.