I trust the French government more than I trust Google. But the good news is, you don’t have to: its fully open source and you can self host. Instructions are available here: https://github.com/suitenumerique/docs/tree/main/docs

It’s almost like you could check out the linked campaign and answer that question with a couple of minutes reading.

The money goes to supporting pixelfed, loops and sup development, with the goal being financing full time development for the entire team.