Is it ? I read the article and was pissed that there was no link to the actual charts or source.

I'm not sure what you're referring to with big data phobia, computer related privacy concerns have been around for a couple decades before facebook beginnings, IIRC it was a thing a few years before zuckerberg's birth. Then privacy concerns about facebook have existed a little while before its conception with Facemash.

It's a multiseries one, and will take you hours to complete, but it's designed to the point where it's incredibly enjoyable to read. Here's one of the parts: https://labs.rs/en/the-human-fabric-of-the-facebook-pyramid/

labs.rs is the website of the SHARE Lab. They also have http://www.shareconference.net/ which is their foundation's website.

It doesn't read as sponsored, it'd be more circumspect. More like, the reporter found it and thought it was cool so he interviewed "Dr Julia Powles" about it so he could write an article on it. You can ask him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/joemillerjr