Whichever way you look at it, nothing is ever for "Free" in the real sense of it. Even in the past when a lot of people thought Bitcoin was given for free through airdrops or faucets, there was something those who gave it out benefited by doing that. Most of them needed their sites to be pushed out in form of publicity. In essence, something was exchanged for something. Your data and time for Bitcoin because some of them needed minor tasks done before releasing the Bitcoin.
I don't really get what you're saying though, did they pay any form of money for it?
Sure data is needed, u don't think there's anything you can do on the internet that doesn't involve data including this forum too