Im sure the browsers and source webpages in the apps have ads. But my interpretation was that people are seeing ads on the Lemmy site itself in these free apps.

I hope that is not the case

I think children are generally taught "eat your fruits and vegetables". It should not be permitted to target children with fruit-branded junk food and mis-marketing

Why are people using the apps that have any ads? There are a million Lemmy apps out there at this point. Most are completely free and no ads