I agree with the overall sentiment, however:

Lootboxes are at least a conscious action you must take. They definitely have the same problems as gambling (because that’s what they are), but you can also choose not to engage with them. Ads however, are forced upon you, and do things that you cannot see (track you) and cannot turn off.

I mean fair enough but in the context of indies trying to “hack the algorithm”, you’re probably not even a target because you don’t even look at the Steam store.

Not on Google. They work on kagi and I assume they do on DDG/searx etc